Ocean clean-up
The most impressive project during my time at the sanctuary was our marine debris clean-up. The plan was to remove as much debris out of the bay as possible. It was great to see so many people work together and having a good time. A huge thanks goes to Pacific Pro Dive and the Pacific Scuba Club to make this project possible!
The divers began with examinating what kind of garbage was at the bottom. The smaller pieces like bottles were instantly removed, but the bigger pieces like the sewer pipes demanded more consultation.
Once they had a good and clear vision of how everything was divided over the ocean floor, they started to work to get the bigger pieces out.
The divers dove about 3 times a day for 1/1.5 hour per dive.
On the top of the dock is where the volunteers were located at. They took all the dug up garbage on deck. Once the garbage was out of the water, the garbage needed to be cleaned. Everything needed to be freed from barnacles, mud and kelp and the long pipes needed to be cut up in pieces.
During the day, we would get spoiled with amazing food, made by the French volunteers Nicholas and Margot. They provided everyone with their well needed calories and nutrients.
After the divers finished the last dive and the volunteers finished cleaning all the garbage as good as possible, we took all the garbage we removed to the Ocean Legacy's Ocean Plastic Depot. This organisation ensures that plastic waste out of the ocean gets diverted from the landfill and gets transformed into new products.
During the week that the divers were around, they managed to remove 770 kg (1.697 lbs) of garbage out of the bay, including sewer pipes, tires, plastic/glass bottles and a toilet. Of all that, 580 kg (1.279 lbs) was diverted from the landfill. That gives an impressive total of a 75.32% recycling diversion rate.
I could not be more proud of everyone who worked on the project. All the divers, volunteers and Ocean Plastic Depot crew achieved an incredible succes that will save the lives of countless of marine animals.
