Dominican Republic Based Environmentalist Laud Glidecoat Partnership

Glidecoat reaffirms it commitment to marine conservation, partnering with Dominican Republic based environmentalists to restore the nation’s damaged coral reefs.

Environmentalist, Bill Passmore, fell in love with the Dominican Republic eight years ago while on vacation. Longing for the small life, cool breeze and—of course—the ocean, the Canadian settled on the island after retirement. However, he would not stay in retirement for long.

An avid diver, Passmore immediately took to the waters off of his Sousa Bay home, exploring the underwater marine life with his handy aquatic camera. The images he captured were disturbing, marring his vision of paradise. What he saw was the destruction of the delicate coral reef and decided to do something about it.

“About a year ago, I guess I got upset about all of the plastic and garbage in the ocean and started the beach clean up and dive site cleanup. We were five divers who were concerned about the Bay and we thought we could clean it up and grow some coral,”

Bill Passmore

And that is exactly what they did. Constructing coral domes out of rebar, concrete, sand and fiberglass resin the divers resolved to regenerate the nation’s coral reef, tower by tower.

“Over the last year we have made inroads. What we really hope to do with the coral is bring back the reef fish. You need both of them; the coral needs the reef fish and the reef fish needs the coral. By building these coral domes not only will we enhance the diving and snorkeling here, but we should also be able to build back most of the fish population,”

Bill Passmore

Passmore said that Glidecoat’s, the Smart Surface Technology provider of Nano Coating, partnership has helped the group regenerate the Dominican Republic’s coral reefs.

“They are excellent. It shows their commitment to the environment and maintaining the environment….It is also really important that their products are eco-friendly. It is absolutely the kind of products we use,”

Bill Passmore

Glidecoat managing director, Paul Westhorpe, said that this and projects like this, are a part of the company’s long-term goal of producing eco-friendly products that do not damage the environment. The organization is dedicated to supporting efforts to protect the world’s waterways.

“Glidecoat is pleased to participate with the coral towers, especially given our focus on marine and our green focus in that none of our products contain biocides, which can damage the marine environment,”

Paul Westhorpe, Managing Director of Glidecoat

While partnering with Glidecoat, Passmore also found an unexpected use for the company’s cutting-edge nano-coating products.

“What I did was use Glidecoat on my underwater cameras and it was very neat. I was wary about putting it on camera lenses, but I thought I’d give it a try. It is great. It is phenomenal. I don’t get any air bubbles trapped between lenses. To clean it off you take a rag and touch the surface and it’s clean. So you don’t get the spotting on there. It has made life a heck of a lot easier for taking pictures underwater,”

Bill Passmore