At Shivrajpur beach of Dwarka, Nirav Parikh stands giving instructions to a group of people from underprivileged backgrounds on the precautions to take while scuba-diving. Though these prospective divers are from coastal villages of Gujarat, this is the first time they will be donning diving gear. Parikh, a trained scuba-diver from Scuba Diving International in New Jersey, USA, says, “There is much demand for skilled divers to work in the refineries and ports along the coast of Gujarat. These villagers once trained in scuba-diving can get good placements in refineries and other maritime projects, and then maybe overseas.” And these subsidised diving training camps that he runs give them an opportunity to get employment or opt for self-employment.
“To subsidise these camps, I organise diving classes for the people, who can afford it, in Ahmedabad. It begins with lessons in the swimming pools of the clubs they are members of, before taking them to the coast and then the open seas,” says the 50-year-old.
Parikh, who was a documentary filmmaker, fell in love with the sport while making a documentary. “In the early 1990s, I got a chance to shoot a documentary in India’s first Marine National Park, which stretches between Jamnagar and Okha. Fascinated by the marine life I saw there, I decided to learn scuba-diving.”
Family reasons took him to the USA, and there he was exposed to different diving facilities. “I have been diving since 2000. In 2007, I started Green Soldiers project to raise awareness about the marine and other ecosystems among children in Gujarat,” says Parikh, who finally returned to India in 2011 and started Green Soldiers Scuba Network with a cause. His aim was to promote scuba-diving as a sport, with a focus on conservation and livelihood.
After much diving along the coast, Parikh found Shivrajpur to be a good beach for a tented camp. “The sandy beach is beautiful, the gradients of the foreshore are safe for beginner divers to start in shallow seawaters and then move to open seas, and the village authorities were cooperative,” says Parikh, who has trained over 75 people in scuba-diving between 2013 and 2017.
The 25 locals, who were trained by him free of cost, are now operating camps and diving programmes. He has also collaborated with National Fire Academy in Jamnagar to start a free scuba-diving course in their syllabus, and the first batch has been successfully trained.
“Following the success of my Shivrajpur operations over the past few years, many other coastal villages have invited me to hold such activities on other beaches near Dwarka too,” he says. “Shivrajpur, Makhanpur, Mithapur, Okha Madhi and Ajad Island are some potential sites for scuba diving camps. The sea along the coastal area from Okha to Somnath is dark—this area is very rich in plankton—so it’s not preferable for recreational diving organisations that cater to tourists.
But the plankton-rich seawaters are ideal conditions for marine animals, including whale shark which is the world’s largest fish, and dugongs.”About future plans, he says, “One of my dreams is to make a Marine Natural History Museum at one of the abandoned limestone quarries along the Okha-Porbandar coastal stretch. I am looking for a team that can help put together the infrastructure.A scuba-diving course for students of the academy, and underprivileged people living on the coast of Gujarat will be launched this year.”
A 10-day recreational diving programme costs Rs 18,000