Believe it or not, scuba diving, now a fashionable sport, can be used to serve environmental purposes as well.

An environmental protection group in this port city of northeast China's Liaoning Province is recruiting and training volunteer recreational scuba divers to go deep underwater to the seabed to collect rubbish.

"The program aims to promote citizens' awareness of marine environmental protection," said Chen Jiangning, secretary-general of the Dalian Municipal Environmental Conservation Volunteers Association, yesterday.

Registration began last Monday. With no restrictions on age or gender, any healthy person who is enthusiastic about environmental protection can apply.

Even the typhoon that hit the city last Monday, did not dampen enthusiasm for registration. Many people crowded the registration office on the first day that it opened, despite the fact that the registration procedure will last until August 18, Wang Fang, one of the people in charge, told China Daily.

By yesterday, at least 700 people aged from 16 to 68 from Liaoning Province had registered, far outstripping the planned 100 divers and supporting workers, she said.

With men accounting for two-thirds of those registering, many professional divers or swimming fans aged between 30 and 40 have also entered their names for the project.

"I love diving," said Zhao Xuebing, 37, who started diving in 1988. Often whilst diving he has encountered litter such as mineral water bottles and a whole array of other, more unpleasant things.

"They do not belong to the sea and make me feel sick," he said.

Ma Ni'na, who is just out of college, told China Daily, that although she has no experience in diving, she wanted to make an effort to help motivate others to participate in environmental protection activities.

One hundred volunteers will finally be chosen after physical check-ups and diver training, Wang said.

Starting August 23, a four-day adaptability training will be conducted at the Xinghai Bay sea resort, at a depth of five to six meters.

Then the volunteers will be asked to clean up four sea resorts in the city. The activity will last for nine days.

Following that, 30 volunteers who are finally picked as divers and have received proper training, will start clearing marine debris from the ocean floor.

People with heart trouble, hypertension or other such complaints cannot apply for the training.

We welcome people in other cities and countries to participate in our activity, Wang said, but only those non-local people with a diving certificate and their own outfit will be accepted as diver volunteers.

Another 60 volunteers will be clearing floating litter on the surface of the sea by boats.

The remaining 10 people will undertake logistical responsibilities.

The importance of such an activity lies not only in how much litter they can clear up, but also in arousing public awareness of environmental protection. Only this can really bring the littering of the seabed under control, Jin Ye, an official with Dalian Environmental Protection Education Centre, told China Daily.

(China Daily August 16, 2005)