Clean out your shed and donate your old gear! Help OceansWatch.

This month we were approached by Kym, who works as a volunteer for OceansWatch. She asked Adreno if we could collect second hand or clearance gear to donate to the various projects their organisation runs in poorer countries. We promised her that we would pass on her message to all scuba divers out there.

Here is her request:

Hi there!

My name is Kym Lincolne and I live in Brisbane. I volunteer for a group called Oceanswatch because I am passionate about ocean conservation. Oceanswatch helps people in coastal communities preserve the ocean by assisting in sustainable fishing, reef preservation, reef monitoring, and educating people when they are concerned about preserving their marine resources. We do all of this by boat and volunteer skippers, crew, marine scientists, environmentalists and divers.

We are one of 10 finalists for this years World Expo on "The living ocean and coast"

We really need your help. This year we will be returning to Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands (Rennell and Reef islands) and PNG. In helping the communities we work with set up marine protected areas, we endeavour to leave them with the equipment that will help them to manage these environments when we are gone. We are currently in need of 50 sets of fins, snorkels and goggles to give to them to help them do this. We use Reef Check and Coral Watch monitoring practices so that they can take data from their coastal marine areas and they do this through snorkelling/diving and recording. We would be incredibly grateful if you have some sets of snorkelling equipment (second hand fine!) that you can donate to a great cause. We would be delighted to mention your generosity to our members and on our site.

Thank you for this consideration and please email me if you can assist us for our 2012 project (starting at the end of May) or would like further information. Here is a link to a youtube clip to get to know us better: