False Bay Yacht Club was the venue for our annual International Coastal Cleanup. Once again we partnered with Plastics SA, who organised cleanup’s throughout the South African coastline.
False Bay Underwater Club, University of Cape Town Underwater Club and Old Mutual Sub Aqua Club joined forces to get as many divers as possible involved. About 80 divers pitched up for the event – less than previous years. Probably due to the fact that it was a long weekend and many club members went away.
At registration the 1st comers got goodie bags and even a hoody. The Expresso show on SABC 3 had a crew out and Graeme, one of the presenters, did his best to help remove debris on snorkel, as he is not qualified as a scuba diver. The SA navy divers also joined in and they picked up most of the prizes given out, making us wonder if they were stock piling rubbish for the annual cleanup.
Divers entered the water via the slipways and stairs and we provided the divers with mesh bags so that the rubbish could be easily transported underwater. This year, a regatta was on at the same time, so the divers were warned beforehand of boats moving about. Every one worked well together and we had no incidents.
SAN Parks, who had their boat in the water for safety, also provided the vehicle to remove the rubbish from the slipways. The counting and sorting the rubbish is often good fun to see what has been found underwater. the weirdest items were a fire extinguisher, scale, bikini bottoms, jeans, cell phones and big batteries just to name a few. Plastics were the biggest culprits and glass also featured high on the count list. While counting, we try save critters that are hiding away in the rubbish – mostly animals like slugs, snails, crabs and here and there a Goby.
The rubbish removed was a lot less than previous years, hopefully meaning that the annual cleanups are working and that people are being more responsible.
