The winner of this year’s Dive Against Debris, "guess how much junk divers can pull up from the depths of Mannion Bay" contest was Andrew Stone, with an estimated weight of 502 lbs. The total amount of debris hauled to shore by divers, which included two anchors, a crab trap, a skull, cigarette filters, a diaper, and plastic plates, cups, forks and spoons, weighed in at 688 lbs.
Event organizer Amber Spitovski, says this weight is up a bit from last year (with a haul of 678 lbs) but down from 2011 and 2012.
Spitovski says the inspiration for the event came from her work as a diver. Requests to clean the underside of boats or to check mooring chains in Mannion Bay, she says, made her all to familiar with the mess of garbage under the water’s surface.
“If I could afford to, I would love to just dedicate my time to going down and cleaning up the base of mooring buoys,” says Spitovsky.
Thirty-two volunteers participated in this year’s clean-up.
