Cleaning up with Fathoms Free

SCUBA Magazine columnist Yo-Han Cha spends a day with Fathoms Free, a group of marine clean-up volunteer divers at work in Cornwall.

A growing number of us are becoming aware of the issue of ghost gear, especially as we as divers can see what’s happening beneath the waves. In an effort to address this, a number of different charities have formed, one of which is Fathoms Free, founded in 2014.

Fathoms Free organises a wide range of activities in Cornwall and Devon. Three quarters of the trustees and the vast majority of their core team of around ten divers are members of various local BSAC clubs or BSAC direct members. They don’t just target ghost gear but also marine debris. And it was for that purpose, specifically to combat marine plastic pollution, that they secured funding from Natural England that was used to charter Moonshadow of Atlantic Scuba out of Falmouth.  

their core team of around ten divers are members of various local BSAC clubs or BSAC direct members. They don’t just target ghost gear but also marine debris

Three of their trustees – Julian Collinson, Elle Speirs and Luke Bullus (Elle and Luke are both members of Peninsular Divers), were taking part in the clean-up, along with five other volunteers. Then there was me. I was there to take photos of them underwater. I must state that I can’t take any credit for anything that was retrieved as I didn’t take part in retrieving anything. I was just keeping out of the way while taking snaps!

The dive site we were targeting was the Stanwood in the Fal Estuary. As a wreck in a tidal area, it had certainly collected a lot of both ghost gear and marine debris. The conditions weren’t great. I was grateful for the sunny day, but incessant rain over the previous few days had reduced the visibility down to about one metre. And just to cap it off, we would be diving in the middle of a plankton bloom! 

This, however, did not deter the cheerful but determined Fathoms Free volunteers. They worked in buddy pairs to collect the smaller items into mesh bags, which were then attached to lift bags; lift bags were directly attached to the larger items. Once all of this had made its way onto the surface, it was collected by Moonshadow, skippered by the late Mark Milburn. Mark, the world will be a quieter but a much less joyful place without you.

As expected, the visibility deteriorated throughout both dives, as anything from ropes to plastic bottles were being pulled off the wreck and seabed. After two dives, there was still much of it left on and around the Stanwood, but it looked much cleaner than at the start of the day. Highlights of what was retrieved included a lobster pot (almost certainly lost by its deployer) and a marine toilet (likely thrown overboard). 

If you’d like to volunteer, Fathoms Free selects its divers based on their skill sets for different activities, with various levels of training for the various tasks at hand. They haven’t developed any of their own courses, as their divers, especially if they’re from BSAC, already have training on how to use lift bags. Fathoms Free are also members of the UK Ghost Gear Coalition, who combine their resources to make better use of their equipment and funds.

Go to fathomsfree.org for more details.

Article ‘Cleaning up’ by Yo-Han Cha first published in SCUBA magazine, Issue 137 July/August 2023.