JEDDAH, 25 March 2007 — The first group of Saudi divers trained under the new qualification scheme begun by Blue Reef Divers of Jeddah graduated at a ceremony at Durrat Al-Arous Resort on Thursday. They received their qualifications from the Governor of Jeddah, Prince Mishal ibn Majed, in the presence of Prince Faisal ibn Turki Al-Faisal and Abdul Aziz Abuzinada, former secretary-general of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development.
Since the project began about a year ago, over 300 divers have trained in basic scuba diving — to PADI open water level — and received intensive environmental awareness training. “There is very little in the Kingdom that is challenging for young people,” said Raed Abuzinada, managing director of Blue Reef Divers who ran the course under the banner of Lionfish Mission. He said that the intake had been phenomenal; the students were keen and responded tremendously to both the physical challenge and the environmental aspects of the training.
Officially sponsored by the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT) with Mobily Telecom as a main commercial sponsor, the courses are offered to high school and university students for free.
Abuzinada emphasized that the course produced a class of diver who, he was sure, would not spearfish, drop anchors on reefs, collect shells or specimens or pollute the environment they were newly familiar with. He felt that the new generation of divers would become part of the solution to these problems that plague the sport in the Kingdom.
“The best way to make people aware of the fragility and beauty of the environment is to have them swim in it and get a close look,” he said. He said that successful though the course had been, the next step, in conjunction with the SCT was to produce 2,500 divers on the same scheme and target 10 percent of those to enter the dive tourism industry.
“We have already identified 15 potential candidates from the current course alone,” he said. The candidates will eventually qualify as Master Divers and instructors, going on to act as guides to cater for the anticipated increase in dive tourism over the next few years. “We want to set it up, see it running and then hand over to the people who will train the next generation.” He described it as his gift to the sport that had given him so much.
Fawaz Al-Saaed, regional PR manager for Mobily, said that the success of the first group of trainees was a significant step in developing the diving industry in the Kingdom. “We were glad to support this not just for the obvious benefits to tourism and education about the environment but also because we want to encourage the young people of the Kingdom to include sport as part of their lives,” he said.
“This is a great moment for the sport of scuba diving in the Kingdom,” said Abuzinada. “We have come to the point where the sport has taken a step forward. Responsible divers with knowledge of, and a caring attitude for, the environment are what we aimed to produce on the course. They have arrived.”
