About Us
Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC) is an award winning charity formed in 2005 by local diver, Dave Kennard. The charity is entirely run by volunteers who are passionate about having a positive impact upon the marine environment.
Since inception NARC has carried out almost 1000 underwater clean-ups and worked with a number of partners in the UK and abroad. Along with clean-up diving NARC focuses on raising awareness of the impacts and working on collaborative solutions.
Cleaning up our marine environment with Rubbish Diving
Divers descend in buddy pairs armed with scissors, bags, trays, lifting bags and a great belief in what they are doing. Dives can last almost an hour in which litter is collected, bagged and sent to the surface for retrieval by a support boat. The diversity of litter found on dives is staggering with mobile phones, shopping trolleys, bicycles, revolving chairs, skate boards, batteries and quite literally the kitchen sink! The highest presence of litter is from recreational fishing with weights, rods, hooks and endless amounts of line retrieved from dives all around the county.
The impacts upon wildlife are only too apparent with fishing line often cut from spider crabs and lobsters, dog fish released from hooks and lost crab pots ghost fishing. The litter can also be a hazard to divers and other water users. Once retrieved the various items are cleaned, sorted, recorded and recycled where possible.
