When a 70-foot commercial fishing boat sank off the coast of Catalina Island in 2006, it created a deathtrap for marine life. The eerie shipwreck - just a mile off the coast, but 150 feet deep - is shrouded by a 9,000-pound fishing net, which is now catching and killing sea lions, sharks, seals and dolphins.
Luckily, the Ocean Defenders, a Huntington Beach-based group of volunteer SCUBA divers dedicated to removing derelict fishing gear from the ocean floor, are on the job. Armed with some reinforcements from the Catalina Island diving community, they’re working to free the net, one dive at a time. Cutting the net free and floating it to the top takes time (many dives over many days), as well as skill (the wreck is deep enough to be beyond the range of most recreational divers), but it’s all in a day’s work for these brave volunteers.
Correspondent Angie Crouch tagged along one Saturday as this group of divers headed 150 feet deep to clean up a very big mess.
RELATED RESOURCES:
Ocean Defenders Alliance
Sea Shepherd COnservation Society
The SeaDoc Society (info on Derelict Fishing Gear)
California Coastkeeper Alliance
Heal the Bay info page on marine debris
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Thanks to everyone involved in the net cleanups, from Kurt and the ODA volunteers to anyone who brings trash back up after a dive.
Great job to Kurt and ODA volunteers for making the ocean better for the animals that call it home!