Diving with a purpose | Weldon Wade | TEDxBermuda

Diver Weldon Wade formed Bermuda Ocean Explorers in 2011 after realising many locals do not take up SCUBA. Its mission is to connect people and organisations to aid conservation, education and ocean research.

It was a hot summer morning in 2006 when Weldon arrived at Blue Water Divers, one of Bermuda’s local dive shops in the west end, for a "Discover Scuba Diving" outing. Having been born and raised on an island, and not having ever done SCUBA, it had made its way on to his list of things to do before leaving and moving to Toronto to work and live. It was this first unforgettable trip that inspired him to continue to dive and take an interest in becoming a better swimmer and diver, and to explore underwater photography and ocean conservation. Weldon had opportunities to dive in Jamaica and the north coast of the Dominican Republic before returning back to Bermuda on vacation in 2007.

While back home, he was PADI Open Water certified at Blue Water Divers Elbow Beach dive shop under the instruction of Megan Smith. Since then, Weldon has returned to Bermuda to live and has become involved in the dive and conservation scene by joining most of the local ocean conservation and education organisations.

By June 2010, Weldon had completed his BSAC Sport Diver, BSAC Assistant Diving Instructor and PADI Advanced Diver certifications. By June 2011, he had completed a number of PADI specialties and made significant progress towards completing BSAC Dive Leader and PADI Rescue Diver – training with both agencies simultaneously! By September 2011, Weldon had completed his PADI Master Scuba Diver rating, and the following month began training for his PADI Divemaster certification, the first step in working with scuba as a career!

Weldon enjoys learning and exploring, and strives to become a better diver through training and study, and a conservationist through volunteering, participation and research. In July 2011, Weldon launched a new organisation called the Bermuda Ocean Explorers and is its Founding Executive Director. He hopes to take every opportunity to continue to train, dive and document the ocean and its wonders, and inspire others to journey into what is – our backyard.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Hi! My name is Weldon,

and I am an avid Bermudian scuba diver
and underwater explorer.

You see -

(Applause)

Thank you.

Wow!

You see, the ocean is indeed vast
and full of valuable resources,

rich in resources,

but it is also very fragile,

and as divers, we have our eyes
on the ocean all the time.

I feel it is important

that we not only work
to better understand,

explore and protect the ocean,

but we need to take action,

in order to see
that for future generations,

it is what we experience today or better.

In 1968, Baba Dioum was quoted as saying:

"In the end, we will conserve
only what we love;

we will love only what we understand

and we will understand
only what we are taught."

But a bit of background and history
before I really get into the talk.

You see, Bermuda is made up of
many islands, about 140 of them.

The larger islands are connected
by bridges and a causeway,

totalling around 21 square miles of land.

We are best known
for our pink sand beaches,

our Bermuda shorts, golf,

and we happen to be
the shipwreck capital of the Atlantic.

But did you know that Bermuda
has 200 square miles of reef?

So, in essence, Bermuda
is not as small as we think it is.

Because as soon as you put that mask on,

you are opened up
to a whole new world to explore.

So Bermuda is not all that small.

You see -

that's me.

(Laughter)

You know, growing up,
I was not exposed to scuba diving.

In fact, I spent most of my time
on the beach, playing in parks,

a little bit of snorkelling,

and I've learned
since this talk was to happen

that I had friends that did scuba dive,
but they never introduced me to it.

I'd no family or friends that really said:
"Hey, Weldon, let's go scuba diving."

So I did what most typical kids do,

you know, we play, and we do
what we're taught, right?

So, there was actually
a twist of fate back in 2006.

I was at a point in my life
where I decided to leave Bermuda

and work and live overseas.

And scuba diving
was actually a bucket list item.

I simply had to try it.

It's one of those things
that friends were asking me:

"Well, how's the diving,
and how's your boat,

and how's your horse?"

And I'm like: "Well, I don't have any
of that stuff and I've never dived."

So, I decided to scuba dive
and try it out.

Now, anyone of us in this room,
experienced divers or not,

can sign up for

a Discover Scuba Diving outing,

where you just call
one of the local dive operators

and book an outing.

You spend a little bit of time
with an instructor,

and you put on the kit,

and you dive.

The instructor is never more than
an arms length away from you.

Now, I remember jumping off
the back of the boat

and letting out the air
of my buoyancy compensator jacket

and putting my knees down
into some hard sand.

I remember scooping up those pink rocks.

Those pink rocks actually become
the Bermuda pink sand

that decorates our beaches.

I remember poking
with a little puddingwife fish.

They are very popular fish
that like to interact with divers,

because our fins silt up the sand,

and they like to find critters
that have been hiding.

And I felt free.

I was weightless and looking around ...

and I wasn't alone, I had
other divers in the water with me.

It was beautiful.

And it was in that moment

that I decided
I had to do more as a diver.

I was a diver as of that day.

I was hooked.

So, I immediately worked on certification.

I worked on getting to know people,
networking within the diving community,

and just do more.

So, I fell in love with the ocean.

Jacques Cousteau,

pioneer of marine conservation
and exploration,

is quoted as saying:

"The sea, once it casts its spell,
holds one in its net of wonder for ever."

So, I did leave Bermuda ...

for a while ...

but I did come back.

And when I came back,
I got into diving heavy.

I mean, my days were, and still are,

broken up into thirds.

Sleep ... usually,

work ... because I do have a career in IT,

and diving.

So, I was either in, on, under the water,
or doing something to do with the ocean.

So, I'd go to every event,

I'd go to everything that was going on
because I wanted to be informed,

I wanted to get involved,

I wanted to make a difference.

What was happening

is that I recognised early on

that not many locals
were actually involved.

I mean, we have a diving community,

but I'd see the same faces
at these events.

And while there's nothing wrong with that,
I was wondering why there weren't more.

There are so many of us,
why aren't we all into the ocean?

It is, in fact, our backyard.

We need to all be looking into the ocean
and experiencing more,

so that we can understand it
and protect it.

So I wanted to do a lot more.

So, I started an organisation,

and what I wanted to do
with this organisation

is, essentially, create
a grassroots action-oriented organisation

that will connect the diving community,

bring divers together,

and raise awareness,

get more locals in the water,

and keep divers diving,

because I was meeting
many locals that had the gear,

but they were not diving.

And I wanted to address that.

And that's how Bermuda Ocean Explorers

were started.

And it's been three years,
as of this past September,

where we have done some amazing things
in connecting the diving community.

Now, there is a few events

that people can do
to connect the community,

divers and non-divers alike.

Picking up marine debris
and hunting lionfish

are two of the key things
I am gonna speak on today.

Because there's many other things
that we could do,

but these are the two
I'm going to focus on right now.

Show of hands:

How many of you have
walked the beach and seen debris?

Now, plastic pollution and marine debris,
it wasn't a forever thing.

At one time, we could walk the beach
and not see any trash.

But, guys, how many
of you that saw debris,

actually picked it up?

Yeah, you picked it up,
disposed of it properly?

Nice.

Well, marine debris is a pervasive problem
that we cannot afford to ignore.

And it is a global problem,
it's not just a Bermuda problem.

Every year, tens of thousands
of animals and sea birds and fish

get tangled up in debris
and drown and die.

These animals digest the plastic,
and it gets into their system,

and it causes problems

that we fully don't even
recognise right now.

We've got the gyres,

huge gyres of plastic pollution,

swirling in five different areas
around the world.

And these aren't mountains of debris,

they sink.

And this becomes a plastic soup.

So, what I've been doing
over the past few years

is bring the community together
to dive against the debris,

to tackle the plastic pollution problem.

It's been fun.

I remember I said picking up trash - fun,

well, my formula is making it a party.

So, by making collecting trash a party,

I've been able to bring volunteers
from all global organisations together

to have fun.

We have scuba divers in the water
with gloves and onion sacks:

that's how you collect
debris in the water,

with an onion sack, not a bag.

You fill that up
and send it to the surface,

to a guy in a kayak when it's full..

And we'd have people on land,

because you don't have to dive
to make a difference.

You can come and fill up a bag.

We separate tin, aluminium and glass.

That's what we recycle here;

everything else goes
to the incinerator to be burned.

But bringing people together has been key.

Being the conduit has been
a phenomenal success for me.

I never knew that the organisation itself
would be this successful.

I'm just a guy that is trying
to make a difference

and bring people together.

And it's been fun.

We've collected
hundreds of pounds of debris.

We've collected everything
from scooters, to chairs, to you name it,

we've pulled it out of the ocean.

Because not all plastic pollution floats.

A lot of it does, in fact, sink.

And this is a photo of our most recent
clean up at Mangrove Bay.

Again a very successful clean up.

I think that plastic pollution
is a huge problem,

and it all starts with us, the consumers.

We need to make better choices
of how we consume and manage our waste.

Now, can anybody tell me what this is?

Audience: Lionfish.

(Laughs)

So, the awareness, we can check that box.

We are all aware of what a lionfish is,

and that's great.

There are many organisations
in Bermuda and around the world

that are working hard
to raise awareness about the lionfish.

But did you guys know they are edible?

How many of you have actually
eaten lionfish? Have you tasted it?

Uh, not that many of you
have actually had lionfish.

I think we're going to work on that today.

Now, the lionfish
is not a Bermuda problem.

Like marine debris,
it is a global problem, to a degree.

You see, in the Indo-Pacific,
in the lionfish's native range,

they've existed in harmony
with their environment.

Everything is good.

Over here in the Atlantic, though,

they were introduced
through the aquarium trade,

and they've left
the controlling mechanisms

that they have over in the Indo-Pacific.

So, over here, there are many issues

that make the lionfish
a really bad problem.

In fact, it is probably
the biggest catastrophe

the Atlantic has ever experienced.

I will tell you why.

This fish, though beautiful,
is covered in 18 venomous spines.

This fish, though beautiful,

unfortunately, its prey,
which isn't just little fish,

but invertebrates too,

they do not recognise this fish
as a predator at all.

In fact, prey go to the lionfish,
so it is given a meal all the time.

It just sits in the shadows,
sits in the sand hole ... and eats.

They have no mechanism
to tell them they are full,

because in their native range,

they eat and they don't know
when the next meal is going to come,

so just genetically,
they will eat and eat,

they don't have that stop reflex.

Now, one of the most
shocking things, guys,

is that their reproductive rate
is through the roof.

Typical female lionfish will spawn
two million eggs a year.

So, we need an army
to keep their numbers in check.

Eradication is impractical;
control and consumption is the only way.

Now, in Bermuda, we have
a lionfish control plan.

And behind that control plan
is a lionfish task force,

which is made up of

virtually all of the ocean-related
organisations in Bermuda.

And I happen to be a proud part of that.

Now, we have the government involved,

we have fisheries involved,

we have a deep diving technical team

that go deep to put their eyes
on the deep ocean,

and they will pick lionfish off
as they find them.

But they are looking for hotspots.

And we want to work
with fisheries and government

to put traps and pots in these hotspots.

We are recreational divers
and sport divers and technical divers,

and even freedivers,

doing their best to comb
and police the reef,

to keep their numbers down.

Because if we don't,

when we go snorkelling off Church Bay,

or when we explore Tobacco Bay,

all we are going to find are lionfish.

But they eat the fish

that keep our beautiful
coral reefs healthy as well.

So they eat those fish,
and then we have huge problems.

It's called a trophic cascade,
it's all connected.

But, we need more divers in the water
to keep them at bay.

Now, when I catch them with my friends,

we will take them home,
cut off the spines, and eat them.

Consumption is key.

So, take them home, grill them up,

and what makes what I do, and what we do
at Bermuda Ocean Explorers, work

is we just want to include everyone,

and share everything.

So, this is a photo taken from my kitchen,

where I just whipped up
a lionfish fillet with some salad.

The fish is a very light white meat,

and it's extremely tasty,

and comparable to hawkfish and grouper.

So, don't worry about
your grouper, your rockfish,

it's good,

but we are trying to manage that as well
because those numbers are really low.

This fish does not belong in Bermuda,

and we have to keep
their numbers in check.

There is a lionfish calling
programme in effect,

that if you are a resident here,
you sign up for the class.

Take the class,
it's about an hour and a half,

and you come out of that class
with your lionfish permit.

You are able to grab a trident spear,
just like what I have over here,

and carefully spear them if you see them

whether you are
scuba diving or freediving.

So, there is a lot to do.

We need to protect our reef.

You know, this is the very reef

that is the healthiest reef
in this part of the world.

This is the very reef
that protects us from storm surge.

This is the very reef
that contributes to our economy,

because people come to Bermuda
to snorkel and dive and explore.

And it is also the very reef
that provides us with food.

So without our reef -

Honestly, I don't want to imagine

having barren reef
covered in lionfish in our waters.

It hurts me to even think about that.

And that's why I am so passionate
in growing not only divers,

but getting people of all walks involved.

You don't have to get wet to help.

Healthy reef.

What I'd like you to do
is get in the water.

Experience the ocean.

Scuba dive, snorkel, paddle board, swim.

Engage in the ocean,

and who knows, you might
get caught in its web, as I did.

If you see it, pick it up.

I've got to say, once you actually see
marine debris on the beach,

and you identify it, and you pick it up,
and you put it in your bag,

you get put into a state
where you can't then not see it,

you know?

So, whether you are picking up bottle caps
or glow sticks or discarded fishing line,

just pick it up
and dispose of it properly.

It all makes a difference.

But again, a lot of this starts at home.

We need to work on how we manage our waste
and how we dispose of it.

And that's a global thing.

We need to consume less.

And finally, lionfish ... eat them!

(Laughter)

Eat them please, they taste great.

(Applause)

[Get in the Water]

[See it, Pick it Up]

[Eat them]

Join us, and lets dive purposefully.

Thank you.

(Applause)