As an Island community the health and safety of marine wildlife and maintaining the cleanliness of our beaches and oceans is a primary concern. Small efforts can have a big impact. For example, on June 15 more than 600 divers gathered on the Deerfield Beach coastline in Florida and took part in the largest underwater cleanup ever. The dive broke the Guinness World Record for the amount of people to ever participate in an event like this. The previous record, held by Ahmed Gabr, included 614 people for a cleanup in Egypt, whereas the this record breaking event included 633.

The Florida underwater cleanup was organized by Arilton Pavan, owner of Dixie Divers. Dixie Divers is a scuba diving organization that offers scuba lessons, trips, and certifications, of which many of the divers in the cleanup were members. The record-breaking event brought together the scuba diving community to remove debris from the ocean but also spread awareness about the importance of conserving and protecting our oceans and marine life. There have been instagram, snapchat, facebook, and internet posts all praising the event and drawing national attention to it.

The cleanup not only drew attention to conserving our oceans, but also produced impressive results. During the cleanup the 633 participants collected 9,000 pieces of marine debris which included over 3,200 pounds of fishing gear in under 24 hours. It is important to note how much change can occur in 24 hours when people unite together to work for a common cause. The pollution of our world, while gaining more attention, is a detrimental issue for the future of humankind. Perhaps this record-breaking underwater cleanup could inspire Vineyard residents and visitors.

One small start would be to eliminate the use of plastic straws in Vineyard Haven restaurants. Plastic straws could be a reasonable first step. Plastic straws, when you think about it, are really completely unnecessary in improving our quality of life. For this reason we need to unite together, like the scuba diving community, in order to create legislation to have plastic straws banned from Martha’s Vineyard.

Caroline Cromwell

Brookline