the Editor says: As children of the sea, it's only after learning to dive that we truly understand how beautiful and captivating the underwater ecosystem is. Yet as tourism grows, that ecosystem faces direct and mounting pressure. Preserving this breathtaking world requires all of us working together, so that nature and human activity can continue to coexist. In recent years, many divers have launched beach cleanup and ocean cleanup initiatives, rallying people from all walks of life to take this environmental issue seriously. So how exactly do you pick up marine debris while freediving? Join the Editor and find out!
Ayong is a chef from the French Alps who followed a Taiwanese girl named Sigo to Formosa 17 years ago — and never went back. The uniqueness of Taiwanese culture and the stunning diversity of its natural environment mean that every time Ayong returns to France for a two-week visit, he soon finds himself longing to be back in Taiwan.
Four years ago, the couple discovered freediving and fell in love with the intimate feeling of merging with the ocean. Every dive deepened their gratitude for everything the sea gives us. But at dive site after dive site, they kept encountering trash — and even ghost nets drifting through the water, entangling the plants and animals below. In 2022, Ayong founded a small group called Ghost Net Taiwan, inviting like-minded dive partners to join him in removing underwater ghost nets and marine debris.
The Rise of Freediving
In recent years, freediving has become an extremely popular sport among young people in Taiwan. During the pandemic especially, when overseas travel was off the table, many people headed to the outlying islands and took up scuba diving or freediving. But as island tourism boomed, marine ecosystems suffered the consequences of that rapid growth — and environmental awareness didn't seem to grow along with it. Ayong laments that in Taiwan, freedivers often seem to simply jump in, snap beautiful photos, and leave, turning a blind eye to the marine debris and fishing nets right beside them. He decided to establish an NGO — Wild Ocean Taiwan — to bring together ocean-conscious dive friends and take a more organized approach to fighting marine debris and abandoned fishing nets, showing other freedivers in Taiwan that "Freediving Can Help!" and encouraging the general public and government alike to take this issue seriously.
Source: A Yong's Ghost Net Hunting and Ocean Conservation
On September 17th, under brilliant sunshine and with exceptional sea conditions at Tide & Current Park, Wild Ocean Taiwan and VD freediving successfully held this freediving ocean cleanup event.
Source: Sigo/Wild Ocean Taiwan
Event Rundown
At the start of the event, Ayong briefed participants on the day's operation area at the steps of Tide & Current Park. Volunteers were divided into groups, each led by one of two VD freediving instructors — Jia-Yin and Anthony — or by Taiwan freediving champion Huang Hua-Yang. Each group towed a surface float and worked primarily along the left rear section of the reserve. Three SUPs were arranged to provide safety cover and transport the collected marine debris, with SUP instructor Sun Chong-Shi among the support team. Ayong and Coach Gweno from Gweno Diving-Taiwan patrolled to monitor the safety and well-being of every group.
Ayong explained that marine debris and ghost nets don't just affect environmental hygiene — waves and currents push them onto shores and coral reefs, where they are gradually broken down into smaller and smaller particles, eventually becoming microplastics that cause serious harm to the ecosystem.
Source: Taiwan Plus
How Do You Pick Up Marine Debris While Freediving?
It's all about teamwork: when one diver runs out of breath, the next one takes over. Under instructor guidance, each group dove down to collect marine debris and fishing nets, prioritizing coral reefs entangled by ghost nets. Plastic marine debris was retrieved on each dive and placed inside the surface float. Everyone came prepared with scissors, working together to carefully cut away entangled nets — trying to avoid pulling them out by force to prevent damage to the coral.
Source: Taiwan Plus
Source: Wild Ocean Taiwan
Training Citizen Scientists and Building a Marine Research Database
The event also welcomed members of Wild Ocean Taiwan's scientific advisory board: Associate Professor Vianney Denis (單偉彌) from the Institute of Oceanography at National Taiwan University, and Dr. Aziz Mulla, a postdoctoral researcher at Côte d'Azur University in Nice, France. They taught participants how to photograph coral reefs underwater and build 3D models of the reef structures, and encouraged divers to become citizen scientists by contributing their own photos to help expand the research database.
Source: Taiwan Plus
After all the divers had taken their turns below, each surfaced with a haul of marine debris, which the SUPs ferried back to shore. Source: Taiwan Plus
Among the retrieved ghost nets, some creatures were found inside — any that were still alive were quickly released back into the sea. Source: Taiwan Plus
Back at the entry point, volunteers found plenty more waste and tirelessly carried it all up the stairs. Source: Taiwan Plus
By the end of the day, volunteers had collected approximately 90 kg of marine debris in total.
Source: Sigo/Wild Ocean Taiwan
Source: Taiwan Plus
Volunteers then sorted and catalogued the debris by category, including plastic PET bottles, polystyrene foam chunks, tin cans, glass jars, and assorted fragment waste. ICC data forms were filled out and submitted to the Society of Wilderness (Ocean Love Small Journey) for their annual marine debris statistics.
Source: Gweno/Wild Ocean Taiwan
Source: Sigo/Wild Ocean Taiwan
Wild Ocean Taiwan's event brought together all who love the ocean, uniting them in making a real contribution to marine health.
Once the NGO is formally established, they plan to continue organizing regular freediving and scuba diving events focused on collecting marine debris and ghost nets. Divers who are interested in joining are very welcome.
Source: Sigo/Wild Ocean Taiwan
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