Divers haul ghost nets from submarine wreck in Greece’s Ionian Sea
ATHENS (Reuters) – Divers eliminated half a tonne of deserted fishing gear overlaying a British submarine that sank off the Greek island of Kefalonia in 1941 in addition to different wrecks in an effort to guard the world’s loggerhead sea turtles, dolphins and monk seals.
Inflated lifting baggage are seen hooked up to a ghost fishing internet as volunteer divers of the environmental group Ghost Diving work close to the WWII wreck of the HMS Perseus, off the island of Kefalonia, Greece, July 23, 2020. Giorgos Kolikis/Ghost Diving/Handout by way of REUTERS
Misplaced fishing nets – generally known as “ghost nets” – wrapped round shipwrecks usually flip into dying traps for marine life.
The Wholesome Seas initiative, which organised the operation, stated tens of millions of animals die yearly after getting trapped within the nylon gear.
Final week, Greek and Dutch volunteers dived 52 meters into the waters between the islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos to take away nets entangled round HMS Perseus, one of many largest submarines of World Struggle Two and a cultural heritage web site.
The cleanup mission targeted on the submarine’s conning tower and the entrance outer hull.
“The underwater cleanups lasted 5 days concentrating on additionally different wrecks within the space, at 50 metres depth, and recovering a complete of 500 kilos of misplaced fishing gear,” stated Wholesome Seas.
The nets recovered will likely be regenerated along with different nylon waste and used for the manufacturing of socks, swimwear, and carpets, it added.
An identical cleanup operation was performed final yr by one other organisation.
HMS Perseus hit a mine in December 1941. Its solely survivor, British Navy stoker John Capes, made it to the floor and swam miles in the dead of night to achieve Kefalonia, the place he was sheltered and hidden by islanders for greater than a yr.
The wreck was situated by Greek divers in 1997.
Reporting by Phoebe Fronista and Renee Maltezou; Enhancing by Gareth Jones
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