Cornwall Divers -

Cornwall Divers, Giving Back.

Article by Mark Card

Here in Cornwall in the South West of England we are lucky to have the most diverse diving opportunities. Ancient wooden wrecks to modern deliberately sunk naval vessels, reefs and rocky outcrops to estuary dives with abundant life. All of these can be found at shallow, recreational and snorkelling depths to the deep and technical, shore and boat diving. It’s fair to say though, when planning dives, it is always good to have a fall-back plan given our sometimes less than predictable weather.

Wherever we are in the world, divers are privileged to experience an environment our land-based friends can only hear about. Sadly, part of that experience can be to witness the harm being done to that precious environment and its life. When seeing and hearing about this, it is easy to focus on the negative, but there are many divers and snorkellers out there that are working hard to give something back to the ocean we all enjoy. The bonus is, it gives us other aspects to our diving and the opportunity to learn new skills and meet fellow like-minded divers and snorkellers.

In Cornwall, we have many groups addressing various issues via their organisations, some of whom provide the opportunity to get involved with citizen science projects that feed structured information to national and international bodies helping influence decisions about ocean legislation amongst other things.

For this post, I would like to highlight a group called Fathoms Free. The data and statistics below have been gathered from Fathoms Free and various scientific bodies and conservation organisations.

Based in Cornwall but not far from the border with Devon, Fathoms Free are 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. 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. What grew from one person’s idea for an underwater dive against marine plastics at his local beach in 2014 has grown into a well-organised charity that is leading the fight against one of the biggest threats our oceans face.

A few years ago, one of the most comprehensive studies ever completed estimated that nearly 2% of all fishing gear put into our oceans becomes ghost gear every year. This includes 25 million pots and traps and 14 billion hooks, and enough commercial fishing line is left in the ocean each year to stretch to the moon and back. If all types of lost lines were tied together, it could stretch around the Earth 18 times, and with enough nets lost every year, they could completely cover Scotland.

Other research estimates that over 200,000 sea birds are killed by ghost gear every year, and other estimates suggest 135,000 – 300,000 sea birds are caught in nets in EU waters alone. These gruesome figures were highlighted by a recent recovery in Plymouth Sound, where the charity recovered a 400m long gill net. Tangled in the net were multiple dead birds, including shags, and an oystercatcher. There were dozens of lobsters of all sizes, dozens of edible and spider crabs of all sizes, wrasse, cat sharks, bull huss, and countless decomposing fish that were unidentifiable due to the condition they were in, acting as bait to the other marine life in the area. The team worked into the night to recover the net and release what life remained alive.

Recoveries elsewhere in the region have involved recovery of nets with trapped seals and dolphins, which brought people’s attention to the estimated 150,000 whales, dolphins and seals that are killed every year by ghost gear. As well as fighting the issue of abandoned and lost fishing gear, the charity has, in recent years, started supporting other conservation efforts through the use of its boats and experienced skippers.

Working with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Fathoms Free has supported their Seasearch survey work in areas with little or no data (Seasearch is a volunteer Citizen Science programme providing survey training for divers and snorkellers throughout the UK). In addition to helping gather important information on sites of interest, the collaboration has also increased the clearing of ghost gear from sites previously unvisited. This coming year, the alliance should see ten more sites visited by divers and snorkellers around the Cornwall coastline.

Many of the team have also completed the SDI Ghostnet Recovery course to enhance their approach to teamwork and the safe recovery of abandoned fishing gear. In fact, one of their trustees was on the first-ever SDI Ghostnet Recovery course. SDI are proud to say that support for this fantastic charity is set to continue in the years ahead.

So, there are opportunities for anyone to get involved, I’m sure similar groups and charities are in many of the areas where SDI are present. It is worth pointing out that these are opportunities for all. Participation in recent shore based Seasearch dives here in Cornwall have often been 50% snorkellers. Some of whom are also divers, some may go on to be divers and some quite happy to continue as they are. Whichever way, they have fun, meet new, likeminded people and give back to the ocean that so needs our help. It’s a win win!

0 antwoorden