By June Coomber
Although the mild temperatures of summer have long gone, local scuba divers can continue to make the most of milder sea temperatures well into winter. Some may ask, ‘Why continue diving through the cold winter months? Well, scuba diving offers a wide range of activities and for those that seek to save and protect our marine environments it is high on the agenda, winter or not.
As we all know the world’s population continues to grow and unfortunately so does the waste that human activities produce, whether it is intentional or not. The world’s seas are vast and subsequently hoard immense by-products of commercial and non-commercial activities. For example one such mass of marine debris, ‘The great Pacific Garbage Patch,’ stretches from North West America’s coastline to Japan. Did you know? Every year approximately 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear, such as fishing lines, nets, and pots, is lost or discarded into the oceans; and that the UK alone, annually discards over 1,250 kilometres of nets, the second largest contributor to marine debris in UK waters.
It is also estimated that over 150,000 seals plus whales, dolphins, and porpoises are killed each year as a result of entanglement in ’ghost gear,’ plus countless sea birds, turtles, and sharks each sharing the same devastating fate. The term ‘ghost gear,’ refers to a range of lost and abandoned fishing equipment that litters the world’s seas and oceans causing entanglement, injury, and death to marine animals but also damaging sensitive marine habitats, such as coral reef and sea-grass beds, adding to the global problem of plastic pollution. However, it is hoped that with the help of: newly introduce government legislation that requires fishing vessels to report lost or damaged ‘gear:’ along with government funded research into technologies for removal of ‘ghost gear,’ and initiatives to recycle it into useful products things can only get better.
On a more local level, although polluting chemicals and carless fishing practices continue to impact on our local marine life, help is at hand with local initiatives such as ’CleanPlanet UK,’ (https://www.cleanplanetuk.org/) a charity, set up by a dedicated member of Cleveland Divers, that is confronting the issue now. Its mission is to tackle the problem of ‘ghost gear,’ in our own seas and on our own coastline through working with local fishing communities and with the help of volunteers to locate and retrieve ‘ghost gear’
Once retrieved ‘ghost gear,’ is methodically sorted and recycled in every way possible or mindfully disposed of. The charity’s work of course is only made possible by the generosity of local and regional donors and like-minded, willing volunteers. The volunteer team consists of experienced divers for underwater retrieval and non-diving volunteers for land-based recovery, particularly during the winter months when stormy winter seas deposit their litter above the tide line, which will be reclaimed during the next high tide if not recovered first. New volunteers are always welcome and can contact the charity via their web site or Facebook ‘Clean Planet UK.’ To check out Cleveland Divers go to Face book ‘The Diving Club-Cleveland,’ or via mobile 07960 608529.
