11th April 2018
By Dan Montgomery
On Sunday 11th April a clean of Hopes Nose in Torquay was conducted with dive teams collecting discarded angling gear from this popular fishing spot. A second group also collected litter from the shore.
The divers met at Brixham breakwater car park before heading to Hopes Nose by boat. The weather was better than forecast meaning the sea was very calm and the ride across from Brixham harbour was very comfortable.
On arrival at Hopes Nose the shore team were ready and waiting, and everyone got started, collecting litter from the site. The divers formed two groups and were dropped close to the shore. Although there was low visibility underwater, large bundles of monofilament fishing line were soon found along with lots of lead weights and lures. Despite the large amounts of angling litter several lobster and edible crab were seen sheltering in the rocky reef. After nearly an hour both dive teams surfaced and the boat headed back to Brixham.
On the way back into the harbour Warwick, our skipper, took us to see the resident grey seals who call the harbour home. It was lovely to get a close view of the 7 seals who were sleeping in the sun.
As the dive team warmed up and had a well-deserved lunch the shore team finished collecting litter. In the afternoon the dive team returned for a second dive in which even more litter was collected than in the morning!
The litter collected by the shore team was also loaded onto the boat to be ferried back to Brixham, back at the harbour the litter collected by both the dive teams and shore team was sorted to allow recycling of as much litter as possible.
Overall a productive day enjoyed by all.
Thanks to our partners Torbay Cleaner Coast Initiative, Duncan Kenny from Tide, Warwick from Nautilus Charters and Penny Woollams from the Marine Conservation Society for organising the day’s events and supporting the divers. Also thanks to Wayne Dixon and Koda, David Durant from Riviera FM, who joined us for the day and the harbour authorities and council for disposal of the litter. Several bags were collected on land and a large quantity of fishing debris was collected by the divers. A great team effort by everyone involved !
