• A chat with Scuba Diving Magazine’s May Sea Hero Muditha Katuwawala

The natural beauty of Sri Lanka is fabled; it is the pearl of the Indian Ocean. But when we talk of Sri Lanka’s natural beauty, though we are an island nation, we often forget that we are surrounded by ocean and that ocean also needs protection. 

This month, Scuba Diving Magazine, one of the world’s leading resources for scuba divers, marine conservationists, and enthusiasts, honours a Lankan who has spent the last five years working tirelessly not just to build awareness on local marine conservation, but to pilot projects that can contribute to protecting the Sri Lankan seas and their bountiful biodiversity. 

Muditha Katuwawala, an economist turned conservationist, was named Scuba Diving’s Sea Hero for the month of May. The Sea Hero Award honours scuba divers from all around the globe who are making significant contributions to ocean and marine life conservation both in and out of the water. Sea Heroes range from divers focused on conserving marine environments and marine species to those who work to educate and create inclusive opportunities for marine conservation. 

Katuwawala is the Coordinator/Founder of The Pearl Protectors – a youth-led marine conservation volunteer organisation that focuses on reducing plastic pollution and conserving the marine environment. The Pearl Protectors celebrate five years of marine conservation and conservation advocacy this year through the pandemic, the disastrous sinking of the MV X-Press Pearl off our shores, and the political and economic crisis.

The Sunday Morning Brunch sat down with Katuwawala for a chat on these milestones, what drew him to conserving Sri Lanka’s oceans, and building The Pearl Protectors. 

The call of the sea

“Being named May Sea Hero is the biggest dream come true. Scuba Diving Magazine is the world’s largest diving magazine and it recognises people who contributed significantly to the conservation of the ocean and sea. Being selected as one of its Sea Heroes is a massive thing for any diver or anyone who’s working for the ocean. I’ve been inspired by so many past Sea Heroes. It’s a dream come true for any diver,” Muditha said of this recognition from Scuba Diving, adding that this recognition also put Sri Lankan marine conservation as well as the work of Sri Lankan organisations like The Pearl Protectors in the global spotlight. 

But what drew Muditha to the sea? A swimmer since the age of four, he always had a love for the water. In school, he began to see how the environment was often neglected, and how even within discussions of the environment, the ocean and marine life were more neglected still. 

The seas around Sri Lanka have so much potential. More species are found every day. We have populations of non-migratory whales just off our coast and beautiful coral reefs. But for each plus, there is a flip side – extensive and often illegal and unethical overfishing threatens many of our marine species, pollution poses a risk to so much of our marine life, and so much of our coral reefs are bleached and dying. 

“I would go out on the ocean in glass-bottomed boats as a child and see our coral reefs. Almost none of those reefs are there now – over the span of 10-20 years they have been so badly bleached. This change really got me thinking about who is doing anything here in Sri Lanka to protect what we already have,” Muditha said about what first got him interested in marine conservation. 

While studying economics in the US, Muditha also developed a love for photography and in this too he found a tool that could help him capture the beauty and the challenges that he saw in the environment around him – a way to capture the fact that the environment we know is not only terrestrial but also oceanic and to show that it should not be neglected. 

While studying in the US, Muditha also worked with the UN V-Force, gaining an understanding of volunteer platforms and how they worked. This combined with his calling to do something to help protect our oceans was what led Muditha to found The Pearl Protectors.

The Pearl Protectors

“The growth of The Pearl Protectors has been substantial,” Muditha said of marking five years of The Pearl Protectors. “It started merely as a social media platform just to create awareness for people by taking pictures and posting, going to clean-ups and talking to people, and getting them to start liking the ocean – you can’t protect something if you don’t love it and don’t understand its values. The second component – a volunteer platform and advocacy platform – came later. We now have more than 2,000 volunteers registered from all parts of Sri Lanka.” 

As an advocacy arm, The Pearl Protectors conducts research in an effort to reach policymakers and get them to understand research into marine environments and issues in order to implement policies for meaningful conservation and protection. 

The Pearl Protectors does this in a range of ways. One is the promotion of sustainable fishing practices. The Pearl Protectors recognise the importance of maintaining healthy fish populations and ecosystems and it works towards establishing responsible fishing methods that minimise the negative impact on marine life and habitats. Through research, education, and advocacy, it strives to raise awareness about sustainable fishing techniques and encourage their adoption by fishermen and fishing industries worldwide.

Another significant focus of The Pearl Protectors is marine pollution prevention. It actively campaigns against various sources of marine pollution, including plastic waste, chemical contaminants, and oil spills. By organising clean-up efforts and awareness programmes, it aims to reduce pollution and protect the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.

The organisation also emphasises the need for marine conservation areas and the preservation of marine biodiversity. The Pearl Protectors supports the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and collaborates with stakeholders to ensure their effective management. Through scientific research, it identifies and documents critical habitats and species, advocating for their legal protection and sustainable use.

In addition to these core initiatives, The Pearl Protectors engages in educational outreach programmes to empower individuals, communities, and future generations. It provides resources and tools to educate the public about the importance of ocean conservation and inspire positive action towards sustainable practices.

Some continuous key programmes The Pearl Protectors has instituted over the years include:

• Nurdle Free Lanka focuses on a multi-pronged approach of awareness-raising, advocacy, and clean-up campaigns to combat nurdle pollution in the wake of the sinking of the MV X-Press Pearl which released approximately 1,680 tonnes of nurdles (tiny plastic pellets used in the manufacturing of plastic products) into Sri Lanka’s coastal waters. 

Still ongoing, Nurdle Free Lanka has collected over two tonnes of nurdles and counting and has also developed specialist tools like sieves to help in the detection of nurdles. 

• Turtle Patrol is a programme dedicated to the conservation and protection of sea turtles and their habitats. Based on the information available, here is a summary of Turtle Patrol’s work: Turtle Patrol focuses on monitoring and safeguarding sea turtle nesting sites along coastal areas. The Pearl Protectors’ dedicated team of volunteers conducts regular patrols during nesting seasons to identify and protect nesting turtles and their eggs from threats and disturbances. 

Turtle Patrol also actively contributes to scientific research by collecting data on sea turtle nesting behaviour, population dynamics, and habitat conditions. This information helps inform conservation strategies and management plans for the long-term protection of sea turtles.

• Cleaner Seabeds for Sri Lanka is an expedition to remove underwater marine litter from sensitive marine ecosystems and reefs located around Sri Lanka. The expedition utilises certified volunteer divers towards identifying and removing Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded (ALD) fishing gear and non-biodegradable marine litter. 

Cleaner Seabeds for Sri Lanka is a four-year national volunteer initiative which involves various stakeholders and patrons combining efforts towards protecting and conserving the underwater marine ecosystem in Sri Lanka. Collected marine litter and stranded fishing gear will be weighed, audited, segregated, and handed over to both recycling waste collectors and incineration waste collectors.

Additionally, there are smaller programmes The Pearl Protectors manages like Turtle Talk, which is an awareness programme on turtle conservation aimed at schoolchildren, the PET bottle Christmas tree which is a Christmas tree made entirely of salvaged PET bottles, and large campaigns to celebrate World Oceans Day. 

Meaningfully protecting our oceans

Reflecting on The Pearl Protectors and its evolution, Muditha shared that it had been very inspiring to see and somewhat unexpected, but that the impact The Pearl Protectors had had gave him hope for future conservation, with the response from hotels, divers and dive centres, and even the general public being very positive. 

“I’m really proud of how far it has come. That’s the beauty of volunteering, both online and in the physical sense; the far-reaching impact it can have. In the future we want to do bigger conservation efforts around Sri Lanka and especially in areas where research needs to be brought in.” 

There is always room for more people and Muditha stressed that The Pearl Protectors volunteer platform was very robust and always looked for more people who wanted to get more involved with the Sri Lankan ocean and protect it. 

For more information on The Pearl Protectors and the work it does, visit:

Web: https://pearlprotectors.org/