Divers struggle to remove 'ghost gear' from shores
Clean Planet UKDivers who retrieve lost fishing equipment from the sea say they are being increasingly alerted to items washed up on beaches and there are more than they can afford to transport.
Clean Planet UK said it had removed tonnes of so-called "ghost gear" from the stretch of sea between Hartlepool and Saltburn along the north-east of England coast over the last four years.
The charity receives funding for sea-based operations but this does not cover collecting from the shore.
Director Stephen Smith said he had been "putting significant mileage on my car and the fuel is all out of my pocket" and could no longer afford it.
Mr Smith, 43, said he had been covering 15 miles of beach, using his family car as a temporary measure.
"We're becoming more well known locally and there is so much demand - there is tonnes and tonnes of ghost gear off our coast," he said.
"We rely on funding from grants and donations but that just keeps us going, we don't have enough to buy a vehicle."
Clean Planet UKThe charity has expanded its operations further out to sea and was last week called out to the wreck of The Harvest near South Gare by a resident who had spotted a large clump of lobster pots.
The divers found a "mountain" of pots "all smashed within each other" with rope and anchors attached, Mr Smith said.
"The problem with ghost gear is that lobsters will get caught and die and become bait for more lobsters," he said.
"It just goes on and on until either the sea pushes it out or we can retrieve it."
The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations said its members would always try to retrieve fishing gear but "sometimes it is sadly impossible to find and becomes lost".
It was looking at ways to make lost gear break down safely in the water, it said.
"Until those techniques are refined and ready to be widely used we can only be grateful to anyone who gives their time to help our seas through projects like this," a spokesperson said.