“There’s nothing more satisfying than freeing a reef of 88 pounds (40 kg) of fishing net and watching coral recover, not to mention the smiles on the faces of the divers when they know they’ve done an amazing job,” says Nic Emery from B&J Diving, Malaysia.

This month we’re honoring Emery as Project AWARE’s latest Dive Against Debris hero. Throughout her diving career, Emery awareness for conservation has steadily grown. After four years in Tioman Island, she’s determined to protect the place she has grown to love.

Emery was already organizing frequent underwater cleanups with B&J Diving when she learned about Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris program. “It seemed a bit daft,” she says, “to be doing all this hard work and not reporting our findings anywhere!” She immediately started reporting debris found underwater to Project AWARE’s global online Dive Against Debris database.

Now, every dive conducted by Emery and is a Dive Against Debris. And rarely does a dive go by without someone picking up a piece of fishing line, plastic bottles or another piece of trash. To add to her experience, Emery is also a Dive Against Debris Specialty Instructor. With this certification, she provides an additional level of training to equip students with the knowledge and skills to conduct surveys and report data on dives of their own.

Are you interested in making your dives a Dive Against Debris? Head to Project AWARE’s website to find out more.