Tuna Clipper
Location: Southern California
Site: Tuna Clipper
Boat: Giant Stride
Divers: Jim Babor, Curtis Wolfslau, Symeon Maniaskas, Andrew Hung, Erik Lu
Surface Support: Laurie Dickson, Karim Hamza
Mission Impact: 100 pounds of net removed (approximately 300 square feet) and delivered to Aquafil for recycling.
Team Ghost Diving USA set out aboard the Giant Stride for the Tuna Clipper, one of our regular sites off the coast and a wreck that keeps collecting lost net. The Tuna Clipper sits in technical diving territory, so the day began the way these missions always do: gas planned, deco bottles staged, scooters, and a clear plan for what we wanted to bring up.
The Tuna Clipper continues to be draped in lost and abandoned fishing net. Since the site is covered we consistently find deceased marine wildlife including this fish we encountered below:
On the bottom, the divers located the section of net they had come for and went to work placing lift bags, cutting the net free, and inflating the bags to carry it up toward the surface.
Cutting the net free and rigging it to a lift bag down on the wreck.
One of our scooters staged over the structure of the wreck while net blankets the wreck below.
When the net was tallied, the team had removed roughly 100 pounds, about 300 square feet, of ghost net from the site. That is 100 pounds of net that can no longer entangle and kill marine life. This haul was recovered as part of our ongoing campaign with Hyundai, and the net was delivered to Aquafil to be recycled and given a second life rather than left to fish forever on the bottom.
The day's haul laid out dockside — recovered net behind the Ghost Diving USA, Healthy Seas, and Hyundai banner, with the whole crew (and one dog).
A great day for the team and another meaningful dent in the ghost gear off our coast. We will be back for the Tuna Clipper.
A very special thank you to Captain Jim and the crew of the Giant Stride, and to our partners at Healthy Seas, Hyundai USA, and Aquafil for supporting our clean-up efforts.