Sam Shu Qin Marine biologist dives into work to rally people to save the seas

Marine biologist Sam Shu Qin knows as well as anyone that the seas and oceans are full of mysteries.

- Wong Yang

But a washing machine was the last thing she expected and hoped to find at the bottom of the sea while on a dive to check on the health of coral reefs in Singapore's waters in 2017.

The sight jolted Ms Sam, who also made such dives to plant corals and collect marine litter with her then colleagues at the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI), into action.

Said the 35-year-old: "The washing machine was squashing a patch of corals and destroying them. I felt so disturbed and told one of my colleagues that we must do something about this, because we can do all this coral restoration work, but the illegal dumping will continue."

A few months after the incident, she co-founded Our Singapore Reefs, a community initiative that cleans up coral reefs and raises awareness about the country's marine biodiversity.

Since 2017, the group has cleared about 12,000 pieces of rubbish weighing over 3,000kg during 81 dive clean-ups involving more than 1,000 volunteer divers.

It also holds monthly beach clean-ups and talks, workshops and film screenings on marine conservation - the protection and preservation of marine habitats including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows.

Ms Sam is a finalist for the Singaporean of the Year award, organised by The Straits Times.

Our Singapore Reefs, which has about 50 volunteer divers, conducts six to eight dive clean-ups every year.

The most common items the divers find and remove are plastic bottles, food packaging and fishing lines, said Ms Sam, an instructor at NUS College.