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Successsful Ghost Gear and litter recovery on the SS Stanwood Wreck

Sunday 18th April saw another successful ghost gear recovery, this time from the wreck of the SS Stanwood in the Carrick Roads, Falmouth. Normally visibility on this wreck is very poor but the combination of cold temperatures and lack of rainfall has led to exceptional visibility around the Cornish coast and conditions on the Standood that divers rarely see.

Sadly what they did see was a lot of lost fishing gear (pots and net) along with general rubbish and even an old pair of overalls! We took advantage of the conditions before the weather changed and the visibility was lost to recover what we could. In order to get the maximum number of divers on the wreck we chartered the 10 metre hardboat 'Moonshadow' from Atlantic Scuba in Falmouth for two dives on this site.

6 divers went down and soon lift bags started popping up all over the place! Among our finds were two shellfish pots, several large pieces of net, angling gear, bottles and cans and a random pair of overalls! (beautifully modelled by Rhys here). Enough to fill two dumpy bags. Many thanks to Atlantic Scuba for looking after us, Sea Shepherd UK and Dive Newquay volunteers joining us, and Driftwood Spars Brewery for supporting our work. And a huge thank you to everyone who has donated to us recently, which enables us to organise clean ups such as this!



7 Comments


Jiathdom Chain
Jiathdom Chain
2 days ago

Great work by the team! Amazing that clear visibility revealed so much ghost gear hidden on the SS Stanwood. Two dumpy bags full of pots, nets and even overalls—what a strange find! Big thanks to Atlantic Scuba, volunteers and supporters making these cleanups possible. 🌊


by 67 Clicker

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Been playing pixel flow for a while and it's always nice to have a detailed walkthrough handy. This one at pixelflowguide.com looks thorough.

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gxlbfc
gxlbfc
Mar 22

That visibility on the SS Stanwood looks incredible, and it is great to see so much ghost gear being successfully recovered from the wreck. I’ve always been fascinated by underwater exploration, and it actually reminds me of the massive scale in the upcoming Crimson Desert game. I've been spending a lot of time on https://crimsondesert.pro lately to check out the world map and character details, and it’s a really helpful spot for anyone who enjoys that sense of discovery.

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C Jordi
C Jordi
Mar 02

It’s wild that they found a pair of overalls down there alongside all that ghost gear. Seeing those lift bags popping up must have been satisfying, especially with rare "aquarium-like" visibility on a wreck that’s usually a murky mess. Huge props to the dive team for taking advantage of that weather window to clear out two whole dumpy bags of junk. This video extractor is so great.

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This is truly inspiring work by Fathoms Free! The dedication of these volunteer divers to remove ALDFG from sites like the SS Stanwood wreck is absolutely vital. It's heartbreaking to think of the "vicious cycle of death" that ghost fishing gear perpetuates, and actions like these are crucial for protecting marine wildlife. It makes me wonder if there are creative ways to raise awareness about this issue through AI-generated videos. Perhaps a tool like the Video Prompt Generator could help craft impactful prompts for such campaigns. Keep up the incredible work, Fathoms Free!

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Fathoms Free is a group of volunteer divers who protect marine wildlife and the environment for everyone's benefit by removing ALDFG (abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear) and other marine debris from the coastal waters of Cornwall and Devon.

ALDFG is also known as ghost gear or ghost fishing gear, as it continues to "fish," entangling, trapping, and killing wildlife indiscriminately. These trapped animals will die and act as bait, attracting more wildlife in a vicious cycle of death until the ghost gear is removed from the environment.

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Fathoms free are a registered charity.

UK charity number 1192613

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