AD 2016 Q3

plastic straws, and I don’t need plastic coffee-cup
stoppers. I can bring reusable bags to the grocery
store, and when they ask “paper or plastic?” I
can happily say “neither.” Doubilet says to eat
sustainable seafood, which I think is a fair position,
but since I can’t quite figure out what is sustainable
and what isn’t, I find it easier to simply not eat
seafood. I don’t mean for this to just be about me;
I mean for it to be about thoughts each of us might
have when we think how we might live better to
help our oceans flourish longer.
We can drive more fuel-efficient cars. We can
take shorter showers. We can look into solar or wind
alternatives to the electricity we consume. We can all
chip away at it, making subtle (or extreme) changes
in our lifestyles to reduce our carbon footprints. I
think of this each time I go to a banquet for some
marine conservation or dive group and see massive
bowls of shrimp. I’m astonished by the disconnect
between a fishing practice that is so extraordinarily
wasteful in terms of bycatch and people who profess
a love for the sea.
On the other hand, sometimes I see something
that seems small but is such a good idea it makes
me feel optimistic and proud to support it. One
such concept is from Saltwater Brewery, a small
craft brewery in Delray Beach, Fla., that is making
biodegradable and edible six-pack rings from barley
and other ingredients left over from the process of
making their beer (alertdiver.com/edible_rings).
There is absolutely no reason not to use edible
six-pack rings. Plastic rings are actually kind of
barbaric when you consider the sea life killed and
maimed because of them. It is not enough to cut
plastic six-pack rings with scissors; even if turtles
don’t get them around their necks they, along with
fish and seabirds, can still ingest the plastic. This
is an idea that I hope gains massive momentum —
beyond the local impact it will have with the divers,
anglers and surfers who drink their beers. When
Budweiser adopts edible six-pack rings the needle
will have moved significantly.
One step at a time, small efforts can chip away
at a big problem. But such efforts evolve from
awareness of the need to protect our oceans and
a logical and thoughtful analysis of the personal
actions we take and how they might influence
marine conservation. We can’t change the world all
at once, but we can change our world by thinking
about the consequences of our actions. AD
BRANDON COLE
COURTESY GARY GENTILE
WHAT’S NEW ON
ALERTDIVER.COM
CAPTIVATING
CURAÇAO
Leave the crowds behind
and venture to Curaçao
with Andy and Allison
Sallmon (Page 74), then
see more of its undersea
glamor in their online
photo gallery.
FREEDOM
FROM GRAVITY
Learn how scuba has
helped Cody Unser and
others with paralysis
(Page 106), then watch
the trailer for a
documentary about
her journey.
ALLURING ALOR
Discover a new
Indonesian frontier in
Brandon Cole’s “East of
Flores” (Page 66), and
go online to see more
spectacular images in his
bonus photo gallery.
DIVING
THE DORIA
After reading Michael
Menduno’s retrospective
on the challenges of
diving the Andrea Doria
(Page 16), go online
to watch videos of
several dives on it
over the years.
ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE AWAIT
AT ALERTDIVER.COM
ANDY SALLMON
MARLA BROSE/ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
ALERTDIVER.COM | 13