Underwater clean-up of Scapa Flow

Marine conservationists, animal protectors, divers and researchers have spent a week in Scapa Flow gathering marine debris, including  shot lines left behind by divers and lost fishing gear, which can lead to ‘ghost fishing’ – fishing gear which still catches while being left at the bottom of the sea.

The unique team came together and set sail out of Stromness on local dive boat Halton- skippered by Bob Anderson – for the large clean-up mission in Scapa Flow, to carry out first of a kind research in the area to look at the effects of ghost gear.

This first project to be delivered collaboratively by members of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), which launched in London this month, comprised of partners across the globe who wish to tackle the problem of ghost fishing gear.

World Animal Protection, Healthy Seas and Ghost Fishing formed a team of divers, marine researchers and campaigners who hope to start quantifying the scale of the waste problem in the Scapa Flow area and work to reduce it.

Futher details will appear in The Orcadian.