It was mid of summer when we got a report of an old fishing farm in Salamina island which is located close to Athens. In September the Ghost Diving Greece team went there for a survey and we found themselves in front of an environmental disaster. The fish farm that was there left behind almost everything they did not need anymore, from fish farming nets, tires, steal structures and many more, on a depth from 15 to 25 meters.

A lot to do! And a great way to “start” our ghost diving season in this year of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a team meeting, we decided to go there to act. In the morning of October 31st, a team of nine volunteer divers went to the location and started the removal.

We divided with three teams and we faced many difficulties since the nets were not only entangled with the structures, even buried under the sand during all the years they has been left there. During the lifting a cloud of sand didn’t make our life any easier and the visibility dropped significantly.

We positioned 4 lift bags on one side of the net, but when we started the lifting we noticed a big load of dead oysters attached to it making the lifting almost impossible. After 50 minutes we ascended and together with the supporting fishermen we prepared a rope and went down again. We lifted the net out with help of the crane at the surface and managed to recover it completely.

In the end everything went safe and successful, the result was the recovery of one of our biggest nets ever, around 400kg! Our goal is to go back and clean up the rest of the nets very soon.

This project was made possible by Healthy Seas.