Every year we team up with Adventure Wellington to tackle the rubbish that collects at Oriental Bay, underwater and along the breakwaters.
A team of 11 volunteers turned up to help including our Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, who donned her snorkeling gear and jumped into help.
The divers headed underwater and in 50 minutes collected a range of rubbish. The expected bottles and cans, along with hats, socks and underwear, food containers and wrappers, a fishing rod and a shopping trolley. They also collected a roll of construction mesh and a set of lights. ~100kg of rubbish was pilled out from underwater.
The surface crew collected a lot of polystyrene, cigarette butts, plastic bags and more food wrappers from around the rocks. The amount of rubbish that ends up in these areas but is not readily visible was incredible. These guys filled over 5 rubbish bags which was a great effort.
Once the divers returned it was important to sort through the rubbish and remove as much of the sea life as possible. This included sea cucumbers, sea stars, chitons, crabs and an unknown sea slug.
Thanks everyone for your support and we look forward to seeing you all there again in 2017.
