Trawangan Dive Indonesia - The Early Learning Centre of Shark Awareness

Trawangan Dive Indonesia

The Early Learning Centre of Shark Awareness

Over 2013 Trawangan Dive has seen a rapid increase in the number of families choosing to dive at Trawangan Dive Centre. Being a 100% Project AWARE partner and a Coral Conservation Centre we like to educate divers where we can about the latest conservation issues.

 

 One of the ongoing issues globally is the declining shark populations. Over the last couple of years Trawangan Dive has seen a noticeable increase in the number of PADI programs being taught to children and we have also noticed that generally children tend to pick up, process and retain information on a far superior level than their fully grown adult counterparts.

 

Therefore we always like to make sure that children are not only taught to the highest possible standard, but are also made aware of the diving environment and its importance in terms of conservation.

We have noticed that children will often ask their instructor “will I see a shark?” and this is often followed up by; are they big? Are they scary? And can they eat me? These questions are often driven by the portrayal of modern media such as Hollywood films and even some cartoons where the shark always tends to be the bad guy and everyone always makes friends with the dolphin. So this is where we can potentially teach people about sharks, their behavior and their threatened environment.

Obviously we don’t want to scare people off by overloading them with facts and figures, but when it comes to children we will usually let them ask the questions and present the information in a way which can be fun and easily absorbed such as using the shark awareness shark fin hats and various other fun toys.

We also run The Biorock course here at Trawangan Dive and where possible divers are encouraged to take a dive at the actual Biorock Sites. The Biorocks are often built here outside Trawangan Dive and placed within easy reach of The Gili Trawangan coastline. The structures are often made into interesting shapes, for example one of the structures is shaped like a whale shark and another is a motorbike.

When diving on the Biorocks young divers will often ask what is that? This opens up a fantastic avenue of education. Firstly it allows our Biorock experts to explain the technology itself and how it affects our marine environment by protecting our coastline and building a perfectly sustainable symbiotic micro habitat where the shark is at the top of the ecological food chain and therefore is one of the chief beneficiaries, helping to preserve its very essence by providing a rich source of food and a place to escape heavy currents. Another avenue of education is the shape of the structures, for example the whale shark is a perfect structure to explain more about sharks; that yes it is big! It’s not scary! And it won’t eat you.
 

Here at Trawangan Dive we pride ourselves in providing an overall fun experience for all divers, especially children whilst at the same time not forgetting our overall responsibly to the environment and the highly professional conduct of each and every one of our instructors.

 

If you’re Interested in volunteering in one of our conservation projects get in touch with the Trawangan Dive Coral Conservation Team on info@trawangandive.com.

Or alternatively more information can be found at www.trawangandive.com