August 2017

GVI Mexico

GVI Mexico Marine Awareness

Under 18, 2017
Objective
To immerse participants in Mexicos underwater environment and learning about vital marine
conservation issues while earning their PADI Open Water or Advanced Open Water certification,
learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to
enrich the learning experience.

Summary

For the third year in a row, the Under 18s GVI Mexico Marine Conservation Awareness Programme
ran from July 29th to August 12th with a total of 14 participants from different countries.

The program was designed to train participants as PADI certified divers, introduce them to coral reefs,
and educate them about current marine conservation topics. It was a fun and successful two weeks
despite tropical storm Franklin, and a great learning experience for both staff and volunteers.

Figure 1 Volunteer showing the amount of rubbish removed from beach

Report
On Saturday, July 29th the participants were welcomed at the airport and were provided with the
Health and Safety training and documentation to start the adventure safely.

This year we had a great team of staff members with plenty of experience on marine conservation
work, and they did a great job supporting volunteers on their PADI dive training and providing quality
science lectures.

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The participants were also in charge of helping out with some duties such as cooking. With the staff
providing guidance, they prepared meals using some local ingredients and managed to make some
Mexican dishes. To try out authentic Mexican food they also visited a few local restaurants.

Activities and trips were planned well in advanced, however tropical storm Franklin changed the
schedule for a couple of days however this gave them a great opportunity to participate in beach
restoration activities.

Figure 2 Participants completing their first OW dive

12 students took the PADI Open Water Diver (OW) course and 2 students received the PADI Advanced
Open Water Diver course (AOW). The dive training was done in collaboration with a local dive shop
called Manatus, who was also in charge of the dive training for our Under 18s group in 2016. The OW
course was spread over 5 days which included theory sessions, knowledge reviews, confined water
training in a pool, and 4 open water dives. The Advanced Open Water course was planned alongside
the 4 open water dives. While the OW students were learning the theory, the AOW got certified as
Emergency Responders in Primary and Secondary care with Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

To immerse them in the marine conservation world, they received several workshops on coral reef
ecology and threats, plastic pollution and the importance of beach cleans, coral ID, Coral Watch sur-
veys, marine turtle monitoring and fish ID.

To show up the impact of marine debris, they participated on a beach clean-up in a local beach. They
contributed to the Ocean Conservancy beach clean-up campaign by collecting about 100kg of rubbish
in only one hour!

As part of the volunteering activities, the students collaborated with Flora, Fauna y Cultura de Mexico,
a local organization who runs a marine turtle conservation program in the region. After tropical storm
Franklin, there was a lot of sea weed washed up on the beach. The volunteers and staff removed the
sea weed that was on top of the nests, they managed to clear hundreds of them, preventing the death

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of unhatched turtles by diminishing the lixiviates that could have reached the eggs in the sand, this
clean-up also provided further help for hatchlings making their way to the ocean.

They also continued with the work at night time to conduct turtle nesting monitoring. The team split
into small groups and worked all night long on different beaches at the same time. They measured
nesting females, recorded data and helped out to mark the nests for further follow up. This turtle
camp has released over 8,399,426 baby turtles and it is one of the most important nesting beach in
the region.

Figure 3 Participants clearing turtle nests after Tropical Storm Franklin

It was an intensive 2 weeks of training and learning, but they also had some time to have fun. They
visited the majestic Mayan ruins of Coba, swam in a beautiful underground cenote, visited a Mayan
village and had lots of fun at a zip line park in the jungle called Selvatica.

Thanks to all Under 18s participants for putting so much effort in your dive training but also for sharing
their passion about marine conservation and for all the great work done during your time in Mexico.

If you want to know more about the Under 18s program in Mexico check out:
http://www.gvi.co.uk/programs/mexico-marine-conservation-awareness/

You can also check out our Facebook page to see more photos and this year video.
https://www.facebook.com/GVIMexicoYucatan

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