The year kicked off with a clean up at Stackpole Quay on the 23 rd of April. While the majority of the coast received a pounding we enjoyed 6 m viz. The clean up was a great success as we not only collected an array of rubbish but also managed to free dogfish snagged on lost fishing tackle and spider crabs tangled in fishing line.

Our next clean up saw us venture up the waterway leaving saltwater behind. The clean up on the river in Haverfordwest was a huge success with N.A.R.C receiving lots of assistance from a number of groups including the local kayaking club while the town Mayor was on hand to help out too! The kayak club were particularly pleased with the effort which will hopefully see them return to the area and carry on with kayak polo which they had stopped because they thought the river to be unsafe. An ornamental heron, shopping trolleys in fact everything including a kitchen sink was removed by the team of volunteers.

During the month of June N.A.R.C. supported Keep Wales Tidy and their “Tidy Wales Week”, successfully carried out 3 clean ups and received lots of media attention. First up was Stackpole Quay, where an underwater clean up was combined with a beach clean. Once again the viz was kind to us and Radio Wales were present interviewing several members.

The Second dive in June was our first visit of the year to Hobbs Point and was done to aid Keep Wales Tidy’ Pride in our Communities project which looks at the problems caused by fly tipping. N.A.R.C. were assisted by the Fire Brigade dive unit and P.E.A.T. As always the rubbish collected consisted of shopping trolleys, push bikes and the like with H.T.V. WALES covering the event.

The Third clean up saw N.A.R.C performing an underwater clean up in the Skomer MNR on a lovely Friday evening. Again well supported and the viz was brilliant too. One buddy pairing collected 107 fishing weights in 40 minutes! In Sept N.A.R.C held an underwater clean up as part of the Keep Wales Tidy Week at Fishguard Harbour which was fully supported by Celtic Diving and covered by ITV News. Both the Northern and Eastern Breakwaters were cleaned as well as Pen Anglas Point. A number of disused lobster pots lost in storms still “ghost fishing” were recovered and a hapless undersized baby lobster was released. Once again N.A.R.C. would like to thank everyone who helped over the season including Carmarthen bay, Llanreath divers, Llantrisant S.A.A., Puffin and all the independent divers!

2006 ended with N.A.R.C. winning an award at the Keep Wales Tidy ceremony which was gratefully received along with a cheque for £500 which is well needed as we still haven’t found any gold, is there muck where there is brass? we can only live in hope of a gold shopping trolley!