Big tangle of monofilament net recovered off of Looe Beach

Fathoms Free volunteers were out again this weekend, removing ghost gear from the seas around Cornwall.

Throughout the summer, Fathoms Free volunteers supported Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Seasearch Cornwall divers with their biodiversity surveys at a number of locations around Cornwall. The last such dive of summer included a seagrass bed just off Looe harbour.

During the biodiversity survey dive, one of the divers, Shannon, who is also a Fathoms Free volunteer, found a monofilament net caught around a mooring buoy. In the short amount of time remaining on the dive, Shannon worked hard to cut free marine life that was entangled, and plans were made to return to clear the net.

Unfortunately, the weather has not been on our side this year, but this weekend gave us the window of opportunity we required to safely recover the net. With official permission from Looe Harbour Commissioners in place and a Notice to Mariners issued due to its proximity to the harbour entrance, volunteers set off early Sunday morning to finish the job.

Once again, a big thank you to our volunteers for giving up their Sunday morning to ensure the ghost gear recovered can no longer pose a threat to marine life. And a huge thank you to all of our supporters, as without you, we simply wouldn't be able to continue our work.

If you value what we do for the marine environment, please like and share our posts to continue to support and raise awareness of our work.

Photo credits

Luke Bullus @bullusdives

Shannon Moran @shannonmoranphoto