Underwater trash clean up fun dive

[TannerOD]

I am looking to plan an underwater trash clean up fun dive for my senior project for high school. Thinking about doing it either at cove 2 or Edmonds underwater park. Potentialy doing it this March 19th, . If anyone is interested in helping me plan it out or would like to participate, please message me on here or my phone number is (206) 683 5878

[CaptnJack]

define trash? there's a whole lot of junk at edmonds and much of it is out there intentionally lol.

ditto cove 2 actually

[ljjames]

I would recommend cove 2 over Edmonds. You can usually find a never ending, perpetually re-appearing supply of trash, plastic, clothing, fishing line, etc... strewn about, often blown into water from fishing pier and beach. There is also the delaminated bits and pieces of the Honeybear that i do not think would be missed.

[TannerOD]

define trash? there's a whole lot of junk at edmonds and much of it is out there intentionally lol.

ditto cove 2 actually

Just anything that's not supposed to be there. For example, bottles, cans, plastic bags, clothing, etc really just anything that shouldn't be there.

[TannerOD]

I would recommend cove 2 over Edmonds. You can usually find a never ending, perpetually re-appearing supply of trash, plastic, clothing, fishing line, etc... strewn about, often blown into water from fishing pier and beach. There is also the delaminated bits and pieces of the Honeybear that i do not think would be missed.

Thank you for the suggestion that's a really helpful piece of info.

[CaptnJack]

You should look into getting permission from the Seattle Parks to close the fishing pier. The amount of garage dropped there is worse than elsewhere.

[YellowEye]

Sounds like a great idea! Thanks for your efforts!

Leave the bottles though? Opinions may differ on that. But they make nice homes for octos and gunnels... Given the amount of other trash you could spend much time collecting other more destructive stuff.

You may also want to leave fishing gear (at least big stuff) to someone trained to deal with that stuff.

[ljjames]

In the cleanup dives I've done at C2 (even under the fishing pier), there was no fishing gear that was 'too big' to be dealt with by us. No commercial crab pots or ghost nets.

With regards to the other stuff (recreational crab pots and randomness) if not us then who? We as divers are the last stand against garbage and marine debris. The Derelict fishing gear removal team has bigger fish to fry. For the garbage and general litter its basically us or the grey whales.

If you are gonna go chase fishing line and larger things like batteries I do agree that having someone who's done it before is a good idea, but its not hard to figure out, more than anything having good UW skills and comfort, enough gas and a good buddy is key (I say that because its easy to get task focused and want to finish getting that last piece of trash and the trash can get heavy and be work to dig out) It can also very quickly become a low/no visibility dive. Also a line cutter (not a big gerber, but a parachute cord cutter type device) is a good idea to have.

a quick tip is to take a piece of PVC to wrap it around and include a piece of neoprene (a thumb of an worn out glove works well) it for sticking hooks onto. Oh yeah, and don't bother with dry gloves, this is a job for wet gloves all the way

Here are a few videos from past cleanups: (and more here https://vimeo.com/channels/583981 )

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

working as team is often the most efficient way, one holding bag the other buddy or two collecting trash.

phpBB [video]

[johndo88]

I could get behind this idea, after some instruction about what and what not to pick up. The video of one diver holding the goodie bag while the other one fills it looked very efficient. I'm going to have to take issue with the idea of no dry gloves. Double 100 cu. ft. tanks means longer bottom times which for me requires dry gloves. Tell you what, I'll be holding the bag.

[ljjames]

If you hadn't guessed it by now, I'm a big fan of regular weekly (or every other week) cleanups as opposed to once or twice a year. I haven't been rallying for them much as of late, work work has kind of gotten in the way, but one of my projects is a documentary called "Trashing Puget Sound" following the trash back 'up stream' so to speak, with a generalized focus on the litter that goes down the storm drains in an attempt to educate/encourage the general public and enlist their help stop the onslaught of litter and plastic trash that makes it into our waters. I know, I know, wishful thinking but... gotta try, right?

Anyhow, I'll help/join the party/whatever I can do to encourage this awesomeness...

[ljjames]

PADI Project Aware has some great literature already put together for folks wanting to organize a dive against debris. I don't think this needs to be that fancy a shindig and some of the info would need to be adjusted for our environment but its a really good place to start.

http://www.projectaware.org/sites/defau ... 1%20EN.pdf

NOAA has very comprehensive stuff as well, and I always encourage folks to consider doing a combo cleanup, both UW and topside/beach so that non-diving family members can get involved and feel like part of the solution.

http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/educational-materials

Ocean conservancy as well:

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-wor ... ional.html

http://greenfins.net/a/img/cms/Beach%20 ... elines.pdf

[TannerOD]

In the cleanup dives I've done at C2 (even under the fishing pier), there was no fishing gear that was 'too big' to be dealt with by us. No commercial crab pots or ghost nets.

With regards to the other stuff (recreational crab pots and randomness) if not us then who? We as divers are the last stand against garbage and marine debris. The Derelict fishing gear removal team has bigger fish to fry. For the garbage and general litter its basically us or the grey whales.

If you are gonna go chase fishing line and larger things like batteries I do agree that having someone who's done it before is a good idea, but its not hard to figure out, more than anything having good UW skills and comfort, enough gas and a good buddy is key (I say that because its easy to get task focused and want to finish getting that last piece of trash and the trash can get heavy and be work to dig out) It can also very quickly become a low/no visibility dive. Also a line cutter (not a big gerber, but a parachute cord cutter type device) is a good idea to have.

a quick tip is to take a piece of PVC to wrap it around and include a piece of neoprene (a thumb of an worn out glove works well) it for sticking hooks onto. Oh yeah, and don't bother with dry gloves, this is a job for wet gloves all the way

Here are a few videos from past cleanups: (and more here https://vimeo.com/channels/583981 )

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

working as team is often the most efficient way, one holding bag the other buddy or two collecting trash.

phpBB [video]

Wow, thank you for all of the responses! It's very helpful to me, especially because I've never actually done clean up dives and it sounds to me like you have a lot of experience with that sort of thing. As for a beachside cleanup happening at the same time - This has been an idea i've been looking into. To me, I don't really personally know anyone that dives or could do this with me. So having a beachside cleanup happening at the same time would be ideal, to be able to involve as many members of the community as possible. Thanks for the links to the Project AWARE and NOAA pages, definitely some good information on those pages. I want to make some copies of the Divers Against Debris project AWARE book, looks to me like a great guide to what we could be grabbing on these dives. Maybe we could chat in the next week? My phone number is in my original post, or if you wanted to send me a PM I would be more than happy to reach out to you.

[Grateful Diver]

Almost anyplace that has a fishing pier or boat ramp/marina is a good candidate for cleanup. I've participated in several, including at Kirkland marina, Edmonds fishing pier, Redondo, Les Davis, Cove 2 ... and this coming week-end at the Sekiu marina.

A strong suggestion, however, is that you should coordinate this with the appropriate parks & recreation dept. Many of these facilities are owned/operated by the municipality in which they reside, and either permits or verbal permission are required. Also, regardless of where you do it, arrange to have safety divers available if someone should need assistance ... and shore support for hauling/collecting what the divers bring up. Use divers trained in the use of lift bags if you're planning anything reasonably bulky or heavy. Also a good idea to post signage if you're working in an area frequented by fishing people or boats ... as well as having topside people who can manage the situation so that you don't get people casting hooks into areas where divers are working. Whatever the circumstance, always consider how topside support can contribute to the effort, both from a logistics and safety standpoint.

And good luck ... it's in our best interest as divers to support efforts like this one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[ljjames]

+100 to everything Bob said!

I was getting ready to dig through my archives and find the contact folks for a Cove 2/Seattle Parks cleanup. If your cleanup is more than just a couple people working under the radar you will need to check on city or park regulations to get a permit. If you are doing it for a good cause many times they will waive the fee. Also you'll want to reach out to clean scapes for an extra trash pickup at the site so that the bags of garbage you collect don't sit there on site and get ...redistributed by crows and raccoons.

[TannerOD]

A strong suggestion, however, is that you should coordinate this with the appropriate parks & recreation dept. Many of these facilities are owned/operated by the municipality in which they reside, and either permits or verbal permission are required. Also, regardless of where you do it, arrange to have safety divers available if someone should need assistance ... and shore support for hauling/collecting what the divers bring up. Use divers trained in the use of lift bags if you're planning anything reasonably bulky or heavy. Also a good idea to post signage if you're working in an area frequented by fishing people or boats ... as well as having topside people who can manage the situation so that you don't get people casting hooks into areas where divers are working. Whatever the circumstance, always consider how topside support can contribute to the effort, both from a logistics and safety standpoint.

And good luck ... it's in our best interest as divers to support efforts like this one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The reason I am trying to plan this as a "fun dive" is because I do not want to have to go through all the bureaucratic red tape of getting all the permits from the city. It's not a "clean up dive" It's a "fun dive" where we just so happen to be cleaning up any and all trash we see. Having safety divers on standby would be great, but once again I do not have the contacts to be able to plan that by myself. I have my rescue diver so I am familiar with safe diving practices and the use of lift bags,but still it would be nice to have more experienced people. I will have at the very least members of the community topside, doing a beach side cleanup. I also need a "expert adviser" to help me plan this as part of my senior project, someone who could help guide me through all of this. If you know anyone who could fill this role (or if either of you would be interested ) my email is Furon23@gmail.com or my phone number is on the original post, or feel free to reach me through a PM on here. Another idea I have would be to do a fundraiser, and donate anything we get to the proper ocean / Puget sound cleanup organization. I contacted puget soundkeeper, but they were unable to help with anything underwater because of their insurance.

[TannerOD]

+100 to everything Bob said!

I was getting ready to dig through my archives and find the contact folks for a Cove 2/Seattle Parks cleanup. If your cleanup is more than just a couple people working under the radar you will need to check on city or park regulations to get a permit. If you are doing it for a good cause many times they will waive the fee. Also you'll want to reach out to clean scapes for an extra trash pickup at the site so that the bags of garbage you collect don't sit there on site and get ...redistributed by crows and raccoons.

Ideally I'm aiming for 3 groups of two divers. One diver for the actual removal of the trash, the other as their buddy / bag holder. And I will definitely be making sure the trash gets removed to the appropriate locations.

[ljjames]

emailed

[Echo]

I always carry my mesh goodie bag for trash, and sometimes find treasure like these hand blown beauties i found today under the Fox Island Bridge.

[H20doctor]

we pulled out some serious trash in Lake washington .....

[ScubaJess]

Nice job!

[johndo88]

Erika, the item on the left side of your picture is what you get for being at Microsoft. I think the blue band is for 5 years. I have my 5-year award but I don't remember what color it was.

[Echo]

So what you're saying is that a Microsoft employee got fed up or fired from his job and I found the desk decor that he threw off the bridge out of frustration?

[TannerOD]

Hey guys, just made a facebook event for the dive. It will be happening next weekend, on March 19th. Please join!



And here is the PADI project aware page: http://www.projectaware.org/node/44611/signup