The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Sydney has partnered with the Royal Thai Consulate in Sydney, ThaiTrade and the Thailand Board of Investment to support the Sydney volunteer group Friends of Chowder Bay in a beach and underwater cleanup operation.

The Thai team organized a beach and park cleanup on land, while divers and snorkelers removed underwater debris. The spot in Sydney Harbour is a popular gathering place for picnickers, divers, and anglers, and unfortunately, not all visitors leave this beautiful place as clean as they found it.

Chowder Bay attracts divers and snorkelers from all over Sydney, who are fascinated by the incredible biodiversity of marine macroorganisms. The microorganisms found here include various species of frogfish and nudibranchs, decorator and hermit crabs, moray eels, various leatherfish species, blennies, and rays. The bay is also famous for its seahorse population. The area is an important breeding ground for the endangered Sydney seahorse. To protect the population, sanctuaries, known as "seahorse hotels," have been built and are monitored by the SEALIFE Sydney Aquarium.

The volunteers had to endure some challenging weather conditions, with periods of heavy rain, bright sunshine and occasional strong gusts of wind, but overall the work was done well by the divers and the crew on land.

Divers recovered an estimated 3 km of fishing line, 32 lures, 30 glow sticks, and 90 weights. On the beach and underwater, they found 280 cigarette butts, over 100 disposable plastic picnic items, including 62 sugar sticks, 44 pieces of cutlery, and 14 straws, as well as over 400 plastic fragments, 270 pieces of plastic film (many of them bait bags), and a large amount of construction debris – 46 pieces, including tile separators and drill plugs.

As a reward for the volunteers, a delicious Thai lunch was prepared by TAT, accompanied by craft beer and gin & tonic mixed drinks donated by the Lord Howe Island Brewing Company.

To learn more about Friends of Chowder Bay, join their Facebook community group or follow them on Instagram.