Are you a garbage collector?

[oreocookie]

Generally speaking, if I have somewhere to put it or can easily carry it, I'll pick it up unless it's already got growth on it. Strangest piece of trash I've carried during a dive: On a day off during my IDC, I was tagging along with the DMT at the back of a group when the guide picked up what looked like a 6ft fishing hook (minus the barbed tip) and handed it off to the DMT... somehow I eventually ended up with it for awhile.

 

[TMHeimer]

I used to pick up lures, hooks, etc. but am very wary now as some of this can really screw up my mesh bag.

 

[261311]

I'll agree with others I pick up small tidbits as I dive if I can carry them, the only clause to that is so long as I'm on my way back/ can still enjoy my dive. That sounds selfish as I write this and reminds me I need a mesh bag so I can help in the cleaning process and bring a bit more back conveniently.

 

[dimac]

I pick up most trash I see underwater. The only exceptions are used diapers and sanitary napkins..

 

[undrwatr]

I pick up whatever I can as I dive and dump it at the end. Most of the time I also try to check the shore and clean up there.

 

[spectrum]

I specialize in free range golf balls. I will gather other crap if I can handle it safely and I'm confident it has not become someones habitat or a landmark.

Pete

 

[offroadr1]

The only trash I have let lay so far is old beer cans in the quarry. Some have been there since the 70's. They are fun to stack up and play with. Something to do instead of look at the same firetruck.

 

[TMHeimer]

I forgot to say that I do find like one golf ball a year, and usually leave it there to look at next year. I have seen a boot once, a pail, and a glove or two over 8 years and a 70 mile stretch of Atlantic Coast. It is already very clean here. Hardly anyone (except in Halifax) lives here. Diving in Connecticut, NY, etc. each summer is a different story. Even the Florida panhandle has it's share of junk.

 

[Peter_C]

Where we dive is often a pretty remote area. Garbage is found all along the shorelines though, and I can sometimes fill a garbage bag. Underwater I pickup what I can. Sometimes I even pickup something useful that I can recycle. Like a down rigger pulley that is now used to pull my launching wheels back underwater. We often find lead, and a lot of it.

 

[g1138]

Fishing line and plastic bits that can't be made as a home, that's where I draw the line. Often times that's wire caps, chip bags; really anything small enough to entangle or become swallowed.
Biggest items I've found were a spiderman fishing rod, a tricycle, cell phones, and non-dive lights.

When I see hooks, I cut them off and bury them. Same with other small metals. The metal will degrade overtime, and it keeps me from the tetnus shot a little while longer.