A team of divers cleaning up the waters off Oak Bay this week have collected two tonnes of fishing gear, household garbage, clothing and some surprising items — like a boat toilet and an old television.
Seachange Marine Conservation Society is conducting an underwater debris cleanup in Oak Bay, with divers in the water helped by a boat, plus a dumpster and excavator at Cattle Point. The team has hauled so much junk out of the water, they’ve extended the operation — initially set for five days — into next week, said Susan Anthony, researcher and project manager of Resilient Estuaries of the Salish Sea project.
Divers are gathering items underwater into baskets to be hauled out of the ocean by a crane on the boat, Anthony said .
They’re focusing on the waters from the Oak Bay Marina north to the area where Bowker Creek meets the ocean and out to Mary Tod Island, she said.
The project started with a sonar scan of the water to identify areas within those boundaries to focus on.
The team has found soup cans, beer cans, glass containers, ropes, netting, crab traps, blankets, towels and clothing, as well as a boat engine, and the TV and boat toilet, Anthony said.
Most of the items are being found far enough from shore that it’s likely they came from a boat rather than washing out from land, she said.
The team has identified at least four sunken sailboats that are too large for them to retrieve, and they hope to partner with another agency to eventually remove them, Anthony said.
Debris on the seafloor can smother the sponges, fish, algae, grasses and invertebrates, like sea stars and sea urchins, that live on the ocean bottom and disrupt the ecosystem, said Kendra Nelson, outreach co-ordinator for the conservation society. Fishing gear can also entangle marine life and people in the water, and some objects contain toxins that leach into the ocean, she said.
Anthony hopes people understand that the waters just offshore are important and vibrant marine habitats that need to be kept clean and protected.
What goes down a storm drain near Hillside mall will affect the animals that make these estuaries their home, which affects the food we consume, she said.
“It all circles back on us. There’s no separation. You may not be able to see it, but we’re very much connected to the animals and the other organisms that are living around here underwater.”
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