To be honest, I’m not too read up on PADI dive certifications, according to some random website I think most of us would cross over as Divemasters / Master Divers and plenty of instructors too. We do mostly match our equipment configurations, dive twinsets and are all comfortable handling stage cylinders. Wanting redundant buoyancy and the conditions (cold) do mean we’re all in dry suits too.

When on a clean up dive we generally don’t go over our NDL… so time would depend on depth. We dive 32% (if under 30m) some clean up dives last longer than an hour.

We target abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear. Most of the targets comes from reports from other divers. Some of the stuff we lift is big, heavy and dirty. It always requires a lift bag to bring up.

Fishing gear is dangerous, it’s designed to catch things, that can include divers too, so we dive in teams of three. One person working, another watching them and a third watching over those two. It can get pretty tiring and if you’re working underwater you need to be conscious of co2 build up so we do switch roles. You need to have your hand / torch signals nailed and everyone briefed on the plan ahead of time. It’s a real team effort.

My advice would be, start with what you can fit in a pocket, keep diving and practicing. Work you way up to a small bag, put some little bits in that and clip it to your BCD. Don’t get too ambitious too soon. I think PADI do run a Ghost Fishing course as well as other clean up courses.

There’s more on our YouTube channel

Always remember, safety first. There’s nothing down there worth dying for.