ScubbleBubbles Update

Apr 2019

Begun as a non-academic course by a teacher at the International School of Aruba and a local dive shop, ScubbleBubbles is a youth SCUBA club diving to protect and restore Aruba’s coral reefs. We first shared about their initiative in the 2018 Spring NewsLinks, and were so excited to get an update and more photos in this year’s publication too! Thank you to Carlos Luis Cano (ISA Grade 11 student) and Nichole Danser (ISA Math Teacher, @iteachstuff) for sharing the following update, and for all of your ScubbleBubbles members’ dedication to protecting the earth as a team.

The ScubbleBubbles of the International School of Aruba has been very busy.

First, much energy has been put into planning and designing a new coral nursery. Part of the planning involves preparing a presentation and petition for permission to touch coral. Students will present their petition to the government office in charge of the environment, DNM (Directeur Natuur en Milieu) to approve our new nursery.

Every weekend, a group of students spends their Sunday morning tending to the coral nursery. Things like the current, depth, sunlight, marine life and many other logistical problems make gardening the coral no easy feat. The feeling of accomplishment, once everything is finished and set up, makes it all worth it. Not only because you just finished a project, but because you know you are making a change in the declining lives of corals.

Protecting the reefs is a challenging task because it involves increasing the number of corals, monitoring their health, and stopping their decline. This is a worldwide issue that is affecting everyone without them even knowing it. For example, when corals bleach and die, the fish leave because the coral can not fulfill the requirements of their symbiotic relationship, therefore resulting in lower food quantities for the rest of the food chain. This can dangerously modify how the ecosystem works.

When not busy cleaning the current nursery or outplanting coral onto the reef, students are doing monthly reef clean-ups, fundraising, and recruiting new members to join the team. The ScubbleBubbles team now has students from multiple local schools and has raised money to offer scuba scholarships to local youth who are not able to afford the training on their own. It is a great feeling to be a part of a group that is doing something positive for our environment and for the community.

Follow more updates and great pictures at their Instagram account @scubblebubbles! You can also find more great stories, updates, and celebrations from other international educators and students around the world in the ISS NewsLinks publications.