Ocean Conservation through Water Tourism: Livingseas is Educating the Next Generation of Divers towards Environmental Protection

Livingseas is a scuba diving company looking to deepen the relationship between humans and the living seas through forming a community of divers that are dedicated to ocean conservation. Leon Boey founded the company in 2019 with the vision of introducing a new kind of business model for dive centers, where the focus was on how diving can not only become less harmful to the environment, but actively contribute to ocean and coral reef conservation. Their training is rooted in environmental protection, and they regularly coordinate coral planting dives and trainings that educate people about the different life forms in the ocean and how to interact with and care for them.

In 2020, Livingseas joined the COVID-19 Relief Program for Tourism after the pandemic hit and tourism in Bali, and around the world, came to a complete halt, with the goal of using the support to keep their staff on and obtain resources to help with adapting to the pandemic and scaling their conservation project.

“The funding allowed us to not stress and worry about paying the salaries and overheads, and also allowed us to invest in our crew and building their skills to increase our capacity moving forward.”

Throughout the pandemic, they focused on online marketing techniques to increase awareness about coral reef conservation, and worked on further developing and strengthening their community of divers.

Following the program, Livingseas went on to collaborate with the TUI Care Foundation to launch the “TUI Sea the Change” program, which is focused on restoring coral and seagrass in the local environment. You can follow up on the project and find out how you can get involved through the Livingseas Instagram channel.