Words & Photos Tina Kelly
The surface of the Salish Sea is impenetrable to our eyes. Yet, we can imagine that beneath the waves we’d spot seaweed, sea stars and shoals of fish.
What we may not fathom, or perhaps don’t want to imagine, is garbage strewn across the sea floor.
Ocean garbage can occur from a multitude of ways, both by accident and, disappointingly, on purpose. Wharves, docks, bridges and other overwater structures are common places for items to enter the water. Stolen bikes were once common items turfed off bridges. And then there are traps – areas used for fishing and crabbing are known to be particularly littered with discarded gear.
Dubbed ghost gear, these items can continue to harm wildlife long past being abandoned.
That’s where the Emerald Sea Protection Society (ESPS) comes in. The non-profit’s focus is to protect sensitive marine ecosystems from the devastating effects of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear. Earlier this year, ESPS was interviewed on CBC along with Ryan Swan of Be Sea Adventures. Ryan had just conducted an underwater clean at the Sidney fishing pier and noted there was still more to be removed.
In early October, they joined forces with Surfrider Foundation South Vancouver Island to tackle the pier again. The Surfrider Foundation takes on many different environmental initiatives and regular shoreline cleanups are among them. Staff and volunteers from the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea brought their enthusiasm and species knowledge to the effort.
The tasks at hand were quite an undertaking. Divers, dealing with currents and murky waters, hooked derelict gear to ropes that were then hauled straight up to the pier. Fish and large crabs were freed by the divers, but other sea life – anemones, cucumbers, small crabs, nudibranchs – were gently removed from the garbage and returned to the water. Curious onlookers learned about the animals and the effort underway. With challenging and extremely heavy lifts, they also added their muscle to the rope pull for an extra heave-ho!
Ally Stocks, president of ESPS, sums up the event “Collaboration by these four organizations turns a complex cleanup into a successful one, each one bringing their skills, strengths and networks.” In the four-hour event, 247kg (544lbs) of debris was removed. The bulk of the items, no surprise, were crab traps (of all sizes and types) and ropes. No bikes were spotted, but one of two grocery carts were hauled out; the second one will be collected on a future dive. Surfrider’s Katie Keats examined the heap and said “being able to categorize the debris and have data to support our advocacy work is what keeps us coming back to cleanups like these.”
Now when you look out from the Sidney shoreline, you can imagine that beneath the surface, there is marine life and a little less garbage. After the divers exited the water and the final garbage sorting began, three killer whales swam past the pier. Ryan noted: “we definitely made a difference in the ocean today, and seeing the whales almost feels like a thank you.”
For a video of the cleanup, visit Ryan’s YouTube channel @beseaadventures.
