Working with World Animal Protection we left Dale at 8 AM with 10 volunteers on board. After yesterdays focus on fly-tipping we turned our intentions to lost commercial gear and headed North to meet up with some local fishermen who had knowledge of lost gear.
We split the team into “pot hunters and net hunters” and got to work. Less than 1 metre of viz, a little bit of current and a depth of 24 metres kept things interesting. The first dive provided 13 pots of which 12 were ghost fishing. 11 lobsters, 21 edible crabs, 12 spider crabs, 2 velvet swimming crabs and 1 wrasse were removed from the pots which were then handed back to fishermen. Dive 2 and 3 was focussed on retrieving what turned out to be 2 whelk pots, line and 4 types of commercial net all entangled together which was estimated to be over 1 ton.
Getting the net on board proved to be a challenge as we started to drift into Ramsey Sound. A huge collaborative effort including Derek Rees in the boat ‘Island Trader’ and Greg Morgan RSPB warden on Ramsey Island saw us finally get the whole mess on board! Huge thanks to everyone who helped in what was one of NARCs biggest ever hauls! Read more about the day here http://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/blogs/out-rubbish-cleaning-animal-protectors
