Lake Superior is not as clean as you may think *video*

[Diverdon]

I am organizing a clean up next month and am showing the conditions in our harbor to try and bring awareness to a serious problem. About 2/3 the way through you'll see what I mean. We've used lakes and streams as dumping grounds for too long.
Question. What does one do when the city doesn't want to pay to dispose of the tires pulled out of the lake? A dumpster is happily provided, but when I mention tires being pulled out of the lake the resistance to a harbor cleanup begins. Are divers supposed to donate their time and foot the bill too?

 

[Jared0425]

Rubber tires for the last 85 years have made perfect fenders for docks. I recall that many companies would look for tractor and other oversized tires to put along the docks. It was a great disposal method and sometimes allowed nesting in them for some species of birds.

Unfortunately tires leak petrol and other nasty stuff into the environment. Then to add on top of it is all this plastic. I participate in a few harbor cleanups on my end of the lakes and the plastic pollution is out of control. I applaud you and your efforts up there in keeping our lakes clean. Always a pleasure to watch your shore diving videos.

 

[Diverdon]

Rubber tires for the last . . . Always a pleasure to watch your shore diving videos.

Thank you for doing your part, Jared. Are you also on the Great Lakes?
I need to edit the above. Since the time of that posting we've brought the city onboard and we've found a way to dispose of as many tires as we can haul out of the lake. So lately a few of us local divers have taken it upon ourselves to move as many as we can away from the docks and into the open channel where they will be more readily picked up.
My last video illustrates this well and I have posted a link to it on the boards here.
Thanks for taking the time to contribute.

DD

 

[Jared0425]

Yes, I am from the Port Huron area north of Detroit. Every year we do the Black River cleanup and a few other harbor cleanups, even over in Canada.

Like you, deal with a lot of tires but plastic is an epidemic it seems. But the situation has improved in the last decade.

 

[Diverdon]

That's awesome, Jared! We haven't had a dive shop in our area for quite some time so organizing one here has additional challenges.
Luckily it's coming together and thanks to Facebook and other social media, we've been able to attract people from your area, Wisconsin and few from Illinois.
Hopefully we'll get the bulk of it out of there this time around but I suspect we'll be doing it again here in Marquette.
Thanks for doing what you do.

DD

 

[Marie13]

I’m in the Chicago area. DRIS is my local shop. We’ve started doing an annual cleanup of our marina in later October.

 

[Diverdon]

Hey Marie13,

Glad to hear that. I'm sure you'll be adding video, won't you?

DD

 

[Marie13]

Hey Marie13,

Glad to hear that. I'm sure you'll be adding video, won't you?

DD

Depends. Didn’t take any last year. Will try to remember my camera this year.

 

[Kharon]

Every dive up here is a clean the lake dive for me. I always carry a mesh bag and pick up what I can. It always amazes me (and p1$$e$ me off) that boaters think they have to get all the trash out of their boat as they approach the launch. WTF? It was heaver when they brought it in. Can't they just leave it in the boat and dispose of it properly when they are on land?

 

[Diverdon]

Every dive up here is a clean the lake dive for me. I always carry a mesh bag and pick up what I can. It always amazes me (and p1$$e$ me off) that boaters think they have to get all the trash out of their boat as they approach the launch. WTF? It was heaver when they brought it in. Can't they just leave it in the boat and dispose of it properly when they are on land?

I totally agree. I hate when I come to a fishing spot and see a huge patch of beer cans and bottles. The whole "Drink em and sink em" thing pi$$e$ me off too!