Veteran’s Park A Dirty Dead Zone Challenge

[HBDiveGirl]

Thanks, all, for keeping this thread updated with current reports and ongoing plans.

Roc was successful in inspiring several diving groups, dive shops, and over 50 individual divers to attend the first Operation Hand Picked clean-up event, Wednesday November 14, 2012.

As reported, 31 divers picked up 57 pounds of trash that evening.
Thanks to Kathryn Kempton for suggesting a "live catch" bucket, filled with fresh sea water, right at the weighing station.
We inspected each bag of trash and moved many little critters over to the "Swimming Hole" for return to the sea that night: Octopus, crabs, urchins, brittle stars... we saved everything we could see under close examination.

57 pounds may not sound like much, but it's HUGE, considering so much was thin plastic material.
Magnificent group effort to add to the constant individual diver clean up going on through out the week.

Thursday night, Ronnie and I took the scooters out to survey the current substrate condition. Here's the report:

Ronnie and I arrived at Vet's tonight between rain showers: 9:30 PM... and laughed to look at the big Pacific Ocean Swimming Pool.



It was even flatter than last night.

We geared up at the Middle Steps, conversation lapsing periodically as we cocked ears to hear the silence.

Walking into the shallow end, Ronnie giggled, "OK, this is just silly!"

The cutest little baby bat rays flitted around chaotically as we sank into clear water over rilled sand.

Click-Click and Awwwaaaay!

The plan was to zoom around quickly to the "Salad Bowl", follow the 56fsw contour line towards the Main Steps, and try to find the PVC pipe Roc and I planted as a marker for last night's clean up party.

The Salad Bowl was a yucky mess of trash but a minute after turning left we were sailing over a clean brown slope.

Hey, This looks GREAT!

3 minutes in low gear and the PVC pipe hove into view.

Is this the same place that Roc and I dived just yesterday???!?!?!

Where the heck is all the TRASH???

Please come and dive Vet's park, head straight out from the Main Steps, and enjoy our Mudhole again.

The clean up made a new place out of it.

I left the PVC marker pipe in place as a reference for the center of our first group cleaning effort.

Ronnie and I clipped off the scooters, turned back toward the pier, deployed the Lobster/Trash bag, and began a close-up inspection of the 60fsw contour line.

Looking carefully, we could find tiny bits of debris, but they were few and far between.

Several minutes later we reached the edge of the Salad Bowl and noticed a bit more trash and some larger pieces.

15 feet further and the trash was everywhere.

We could clearly see where last night clean-up crews had turned back for home with their heavy bags of trash.

Clean over here.....

Trashy over there.....


The volume steadily increased until we reached the marker line.

And then it got really bad.

We went from casual trash picker-uppers to frantic gatherers of more trash than our hands could hold.

Everywhere we looked there was more trash than substrate.

We scootered straight down from 50 fsw to 80 fsw seeking squid...and only found more trash.

Turning left and leaning down to 90 fsw, the place is a mud-mogul mess of plastic trash and debris everywhere.

We picked up trash all the way to NDL before heading to the shallows and home.

We were the only people in sight on an empty beach, next to a still sea, under a gently misting sky.

Thank you so much, Ronnie, for ignoring the pitter patter of rain showers to come and dive tonight.

Your furious onslaught against the trash was fabulous!

I can't wait until more divers get to see the incredible difference made by one energetic night of cleaning.

I nominate the Middle Steps area as Ground Zero for our next edition of The Big Clean!

Stay tuned for planning information.

Grateful thanks again to each and every diver who has helped clean up Veteran's Park!!

You're going to love what you've done to the place.

~~~~~~

Claudette

 

[undrwater]

I'm very surprised so much trash made its way that far north. Did you make an attempt to head further south? Regardless, I'll make it out next week with bag and start from the middle steps.

Thanks for the report Claudette.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Operation Hand Picked will continue on Wednesday November 21st!

In order to keep the planning threads concise, I've started a new one here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439533

Please ask questions or post comments for the November 21st clean-up dive over at the new thread.

Thanks!

~~~~~
Claudette


"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
--Albert Einstein

 

[drbill]

I find it unconscionable that the operation was allowed to proceed this way and applaud all of you who are trying to do something about it. I've never dived Vets and now iot may be some time before I do.

I do have one question about the sand dollar beds. The warm waters this summer and fall certainly took their toll on our urchin and possibly sea cucumber populations. Maybe even the sea stars. They are all sensitive to warm water intrusions both through direct thermal effects and also through increased incidence of fatal bacterial infection. Any possibility this may have contributed to the disappearance there? Ken indicates it happened even before the dumping.

 

[Dive California]

Dr. Bill....in short, the warmer waters may have had some effect; but I dive Vets ever week and there was a significant (like at least 95%) decline of sand dollars once the sand "dumping" (I hate the "replish" term used) began. They are slowing returning but there used to be hundreds (if not thousands) as of this last weeks not quite one hundred (in my best guess).

 

[drbill]

Dr. Bill....in short, the warmer waters may have had some effect; but I dive Vets ever week and there was a significant (like at least 95%) decline of sand dollars once the sand "dumping" (I hate the "replish" term used) began. They are slowing returning but there used to be hundreds (if not thousands) as of this last weeks not quite one hundred (in my best guess).

I assumed the disappearance was largely due to the dumping. Just thought the warmer temperatures may have been a contributing factor as well.