[imagesource: Shark Spotters]

Tidal pools are a lovely way to get a little salty in the summer, as well as get your daily cold plunge in (skeefing the bros who brought a padel pool full of ice to Saunder’s Rock Beach when the frigid water was right next to them).

But one does have to wonder about their level of cleanliness…Tidal pools can often get roped into becoming watery rubbish bins. Thanks to litter drifting in from the shore or washing up from the ocean, these pools end up catching all sorts of junk. Some of it stays trapped, while the rest might hitch a ride back out to the deep blue.

But the lekker news for two tidal pools in Kalk Bay is that a team of divers rocked up to tackle the pollution problem, scuba style!

Organised by the City of Cape Town, Shark Spotters Coastal Conservation team and Graduate Training Programme interns recently took to the pools to give them an underwater spring clean, per Good Things Guy.

 

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The team, all with their Class V commercial diving certs in hand, took a proper deep dive to hunt down and clear out every bit of litter lurking beneath the surface.

“It’s jarring to see how much plastic has infiltrated our ocean spaces, even in man-made ones like tidal pools,” said Megan Vokes who is a Graduate Training Programme intern.

“Plastic pieces ranged from tiny fragments small enough for an urchin to cover itself with, to large pieces that required more effort to remove. These coastal spaces were created for our enjoyment, and it’s heartbreaking that we struggle to keep them clean.”

As always, raising awareness is the real game-changer for more efforts like this. Communities near tidal pools can – and should – give local councils a nudge for regular underwater clean-ups.

Let’s call on dive gear companies to get in on the action too, keeping our tidal pools the peaceful, pollution-free gems they’re meant to be.

[source:goodthingsguy]