UW clean up

[Nwcid]

So while diving I have noticed "trash" a bit and assuming some of the local places we will be diving there will be much more.

This week in a lake we were diving in we saw a couple bottles and cans. My first thought is "this is trash I should bring it up" but of course I realize I have no place to put it if I get more then one maybe two things. Then still being a new diver that is possibly adding to my task loading. It is obvious some of this stuff has been here a while since I have not seen a pull top beer can in a long time.

This stuff is not habitat for anything so it is just trash. Is this stuff you guys pick up? Is there any kind of small/medium size bag that would be useful for picking up a few small items if you come across them? I have seen things like catch bags but they are quite large for that.

[eliseaboo]

I assume you're still talking about fresh water? In my experience, collecting trash in lakes can quickly load you down. It's amazing how much is in some of them! I sometimes use a little mesh bag (many dive shops sell them with their logos printed on them for gear, fishing, trash collecting, etc) I know plenty of people who bring them on every dive and pick up a few bottles, cans, or other pieces of trash, but once you start it's sometimes hard to stop and you can end up with a whole bag ful. Which can be ok of course, as long as it's something you've planned for and your buddy is ok with it.

[Nwcid]

I guess there are salt water lakes but I guess just due to where I live I assume lake means fresh water.

My thought was not to clean up the whole lake but if I bring up a few pieces each time I am down it cant hurt and is better then just leaving it.

[ljjames]

bottles are inert, and can be habitat, even in fresh water so take a peek inside them before removal... In the sound we actually tend to leave the bottles because they start life as 'sand' (glass) and end as sand (or sea glass) and in between they are critter homes.

Cans can also be habitat (even in fresh water) and i'm kind of waffly on removing them. They are ugly, but also inert for most part so i generally won't take them if they have someone living inside. If they are an obviously brand new can and seem to have just recently been thrown over as trash, no barnacles or marine life on/in them yet, and are not in the middle of an already evident 'bottle field' I'll pull them. In fresh water take a peek for crawdads

Generally we encourage folks to remove plastics, clothing, dead boat fenders, tires, deflated inner tubes, trolling motors, fishing rod/reel parts, toys, broken sunglasses, etc..etc..etc.... Kind of like porn... "you know it when you see it"

i like the 'medium' size goodie bag for trash, it means i generally don't bring up so much that i need a lift bag to do it safely. If you are cleaning up larger stuff or a large volume of stuff or heavy stuff such as boat batteries, knowing how to use a lift bag is a bonus!

PADI Project Aware has some good info on what to pull up and also option to log the trash so that you can see how much you've removed over time

Good on you taking note of the trash and wanting to clean up!!!!!!!!

[DiverChris]

South sound efforts from a few months ago.

http://www.king5.com/news/environment/E ... 08973.html