Meet the Volunteer Diver Cleaning Up Singapore's Waters
Augustman Logo
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
E-Magazine
Most Trending
Meet the volunteer diver cleaning up Singapore’s waters
Most Recent
Meet the volunteer diver cleaning up Singapore’s waters
Most Trending
Luxury Watches To Welcome The Year Of The Ox
Most Recent
Keeping Time: Here Are Our Watch Resolutions For 2021
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Most Trending
The Tokyo Olympics Will Be Held This Summer But Some In Japan Aren’t Too Keen On It
Most Recent
Shattered Faith. Broken Alliances.
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Most Trending
WhatsApp Has Updated Its Terms And Its Rivals Are Reaping The Benefits
Most Recent
Samsung Galaxy S21: The Details On The New Flagship Smartphone
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Most Trending
The Brave Newer World Of Wines… And Other F+B Notes
Most Recent
Glenfiddich celebrates a prosperous Chinese New Year
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Most Trending
More Air Travel Bubbles (ATB) We’d Like To See
Most Recent
Detourism: Can The Past Year’s Lessons Teach Us To Become Better Tourists?
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Most Trending
Razer Has Created A Futuristic Face Mask Equipped With Built-In Microphones And Lighting Effects
Most Recent
Free Workout Apps That Will Help You Smash Your 2021 Weight-Loss Goals
  • Fitness
  • Health
Most Trending
AUGUSTMAN Singapore: Free Digital Issues For The Next 3 Months
Most Recent
Uncover Mindful Living with AUGUSTMAN x LIFESTYLEASIA
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
  • sg
    • MY
    • SG
  • Search
Meet the volunteer diver cleaning up Singapore’s waters
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Culture
Shattered Faith. Broken Alliances.
Culture
The Tokyo Olympics Will Be Held This Summer But Some In Japan Aren’t Too Keen On It
Culture
Legendary Songwriters Are Selling Off Their Song Catalogues. Here’s Why
Augustman Logo
sg
Meet the volunteer diver cleaning up Singapore’s waters
Back
All  Style
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Back
All  Culture
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Back
All  Gear
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Back
All  Food & Drink
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Back
All  Travel
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Back
All  Wellness
  • Fitness
  • Health
Back
All  AM Select
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
E-Magazine
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Culture

Meet the volunteer diver cleaning up Singapore’s waters

Farhan Shah
04 Oct 2018
Article Hero Image
Trending Now
Samsung Galaxy S21: The Details On The New Flagship Smartphone
GearRead More
Keeping Time: Here Are Our Watch Resolutions For 2021
StyleRead More
Free Workout Apps That Will Help You Smash Your 2021 Weight-Loss Goals
WellnessRead More
Glenfiddich celebrates a prosperous Chinese New Year
Food & DrinkRead More
Here's your ticket to incisive commentary and insights from the celebrity sphere. Sign up for our newsletter.

Toh Tai Chong once spotted a puffer fish sleeping in a two-litre plastic container on one of his clean-up dives. It might have been an endearing sight but for one fact: the plastic container had no business being at the bottom of the sea.

“It was a moment of paradox. On one hand, the fish looked so adorable where it was. On the other, I wished it was resting in its natural habitat and not in our debris,” recounted the marine biologist.

The master diver set up Our Singapore Reefs in June 2017 with a friend, Sam Shu Qin, to pool their resources to clean up polluted reefs, as well as communicate the science of environmentalism to the public. Since then, they’ve collected a whopping 700kg of rubbish from our waters.

Toh Tai Chong is wearing the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 42MM in steel and Sedna gold on rubber strap
Toh Tai Chong is wearing the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 42MM in steel and Sedna gold on rubber strap

What have been the most horrific things you’ve seen while cleaning up the Singapore waters?
I’ve seen some unusually large items such as a washing machine and even a tractor tyre. To this day, I still have no idea how they ended up in our oceans. It’s crazy.

What first got you interested in doing these clean-up dives?
I started diving in Singapore in 2010 as part of my work as a marine biologist. Since then, I have had the privilege to access different corals reefs in Singapore that most recreational divers may not even know about. During our dives, my colleagues and I have noticed the trash in the water. We’ve seen fishing lines entangled in the corals and had to cut through the tissue to free up them up. We’ve also seen discarded or lost anchors that have crushed and killed otherwise thriving mature coral columns.

Sights like these are extremely sad for anyone who has spent years rehabilitating Singapore’s reefs. It takes so much time to nurse the reefs back to health, but debris can injure and kill them in an instant. We couldn’t help but start removing the trash, but we soon realised that our efforts were too limited. We cannot do this on our own.

So my friend Sam and I started Our Singapore Reefs (OSR). Since our first clean-up in June 2017, we’ve managed to grow our team and have organised over seven clean-ups supported by over 120 volunteers. Together, we’ve collected 3,400 items totalling about 700 kilograms.

On Tai Chong's wrist is the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer in steel and yellow gold
On Tai Chong’s wrist is the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer in steel and yellow gold

How much does one clean-up expedition in the Singapore waters cost for OSR?
The rental of the vessel costs about $2,500 on its own per expedition. Equipment rental brings that up to $3,000. We don’t get any form of stable funding so much of the expenses come directly out of our own pockets. We are lucky to have worked with different organisations that share our vision and have supported some of our clean-up expeditions.

I hope that in time to come, we can find some form of long-term sponsorship so we can focus on engaging a wider community and developing more innovative programmes.

Would you say the situation is improving?
Definitely. We cleaned up one site around Lazarus Island in October 2017, collecting more than 430 items. When we revisited the site three months later, we had expected to find the same amount of trash but we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was less than half the amount we had previously hauled in.

I am certain we can achieve more as a conscious community, thus I want to reach out to non-divers to encourage adjustments to our lifestyle. Marine pollution is everyone’s problem.

What do you wish the public knew about Singapore waters and its aquatic denizens?
Singapore’s marine life is resilient. In the last eight years, I’ve witnessed two major coral bleaching events on our reefs. While some of the corals died, a significant number managed to survive. I thought this was a perfect lesson taught by the natural world. If we don’t give up hope, we can surmount all challenges in life.

I really wish for a day that clean-up efforts like ours would no longer be necessary. Until then, we will continue to battle marine trash.

Omega
Diving
our singapore reefs
environmentalism
Farhan Shah
Farhan believes that every man needs a good tailor and a better barber. You can usually find him at the gym, the bar or the poker table, usually all three in one night.
Talk to Me About:

Up Next For You

Upcoming Netflix Originals That You Will Want To Stream In 2021
Richard Augustin
Culture
Need To Keep Boredom Away? Here Are 5 Events You Should Catch In January 2021
Richard Augustin
Culture
From Money Heist To His Dark Materials, Here Are 15 TV Shows That Will End Their Run This Year
AFP Relaxnews
Culture
The Elder Statesman of Rock And Roll: Speaking With Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl
Jamie Tan
Culture
Here's your ticket to incisive commentary and insights from the celebrity sphere. Sign up for our newsletter.
×
Where are you?
Tell us so we can display what you want to see.
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
Malaysia Singapore
Advertise About Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
© 2021 Copyright Augustman