Aquanauts Dive for Debris Plymouth Hoe

18/08/2016 by Zillah Robertson

Debris retrieved 41kg

The weather conditions were just about right for an evening dive at Plymouth Hoe waterfront. There was a slight breeze and it was dry but cloudy. Fortunately the Fireworks Competition had finished the night before and the strong winds that were forecast weren’t due until the following morning !

We were happy to support Aquanauts Dive Centre with their ‘Dive against Debris’. Friends from Plymouth University Marine Science Society joined the team as well. There were 13 divers in total, 4 from Fathoms Free: Rob, John, Clare and Sue, with 3 shore support including myself.

We gathered at the Harbour side, right outside the ‘Waterfront’ pub where plenty of customers were sat outside enjoying their evening meal and a pint, while curiously watching the divers wrestling with their cylinders and fins!.

Several anglers looked on with interest and later some diners came to ask what we were doing and took photos.

The diving teams were split between the harbour area and the rocky shoreline off the Hoe. Aquanauts had previously located 2 large gill nets which were further out from the harbour. They were marked and divers were going in on another dive to remove them.

As the evening progressed and the diving teams were safely in and out of the water, Charli and myself weighed and recorded the items collected. It was getting dark so we processed each bag as soon it came in. By the end of the evening we were all surprised and pleased that 41kgs of debris had been removed from the sea.

Among the collection of debris included a large battered metal chair, laminated menus, dinner tray, plastic cutlery, carrier bag, socks, shoes, aluminium drinks containers, fish box, fishing tackle (an array of hooks, lures, weights and line) and a piece of tiled masonry with limpets on that looked a bit like a chess board !