Imagine if you can – how does it feel when diving freely in the ocean, having a sense of the clarity of waters, the coolness, and being surrounded by a pool of lovely fishes and other creatures in the deep blue?
Discovering the underwater world is truly an incredible experience and completely different from what we learn in the city area. In the waters, we will be able to meet marine life in their natural habitat and learn about how special they are. Miss Claudia Chan, the invited speaker at a recent sharing session, met the PolyU staff and students online and caught their attention with some impressive pictures and video clips of the underwater world. She also talked about her diving experience in Hong Kong and in other countries.
Hong Kong is famous for its business and robust city life, skyscrapers, shopping arcades, and an extensive list of good restaurants. Nevertheless, this city is rich in biodiversity and has its fair share of spots with beautiful coral reefs. Claudia suggested the participants get a taste of diving in Hong Kong during the autumn months, particularly around the Mid-Autumn Festival, to get clearer visibility and good water. Areas like the Southern District of Hong Kong, East Dam in Sai Kung, and Tung Ping Chau are on the list.
Claudia also warned the participants about something undesirable that we could bump into when we were in the waters – the ocean rubbish. In many of her diving trips in Hong Kong and other places like Cebu, she saw so much debris from the surface of the water all the way to the ocean floor. It could be abandoned fishing nets that were often called ‘ghost nets’, old fishing gear, packing straps to tiny micro plastics.
Ocean rubbish poses threats to ocean health and impacts marine life, and results in entanglement risks to divers. If we respect the beauty of our oceans and want to help, we can all do something to reduce the amount of rubbish and plastic that enters the oceans, no matter how small. It matters if we want our future generations to enjoy the same diving excitement as we do now.
