Eastbourne's beautiful coastline has around 340 shipwrecks from WWI and WWII.
Every one of these shipwrecks is littered with some form of abandoned fishing equipment, from nets, line and various types of fishing pots. Some of these wrecks in Eastbourne are home to numerous grey and brown seals, which many of you may have seen in the local waters or even on the 'beach' in the marina.
Chamber member Airtrace Sheet Metal is involoved in an initiative to clean up this 'Ghost Gear'...
Eastbourne Sub Aqua Club (Sovereign Divers) have project plans, starting from January 2024, to dive for an environmental purpose and do our part for our town and make our local sea a safer and cleaner place.
Removing this lost equipment from the marine environment is a challenging task. Ghost fishing gear is typically entangled in reefs and wrecks, and its removal can be complicated.
Divers will survey the site first and collect data on the ghost fishing gear and any animals trapped, alive and dead. Data is collected and submitted,providing critical evidence of the ghost fishing gear problem and adds weight to the campaign to reduce it.
In these times of high living costs Sovereign Divers has decided to focus primarily on reaching out to local businesses and organisations who appreciate this is an important project for our town. The club plans to advertise this project as much as possible and will mention and thank the sponsors if they name themselves in the sponsoring, however large or small the sponsorship is. We will even put stickers on our club boat, if your company has one and wants to!
If you would like to make a sponsorship pledge- big or small- please visit Ghost Gear: Fishing Gear Recovery Project 2024
Thank you for reading, donating and helping us to look after our local marine environment.
