A dive cleanup brought dozens of people to the Harford Pier in Avila Beach for World Oceans Day.
“Truly eye-opening for the public to see what is floating in the waters and sinking down and affecting our ecosystem,” said Celia Zarate, an Avila Beach resident.
Celia Zarate has been doing beach cleanups on her own time since she moved to Avila Beach three years ago.
“At the end of COVID, it was like 60 pounds a month of reusables,” Zarate said.
Celia found out about Saturday’s event and wanted to volunteer.
“I’m here to log items that they are finding," said Zarate. "The debris they are finding underneath the Harford Pier."
Taylor Taff is the founder of Revive Dive. It's an environmental nonprofit focused on cleaning up trash from beneath Central Coast piers. It’s the nonprofit’s second time under the Harford Pier.
“You’ll find car batteries, tires are a common occurrence, and fishing poles, but we have marine organisms that we accidentally pull up,” said Taylor Taff, Revive Dive founder.
Two phones, car keys, fishing poles, numerous tires, and a hat were among the many items brought up from the pier. Central Coast Aquarium separated sea life from the items that were found by the divers.
“They’ve allowed us to bring up these organisms and clean them off and put them back into the ocean where they came from so, they can enjoy their natural habitat,” Taff said.
Pat Nugent has been involved in dive cleanups at the pier before and told me it was a good opportunity to share camaraderie while helping the environment.
“With the amount of plastic that we put into the ocean, I think it’s really important we get as much plastic out of it as we can and to keep it out of the ocean as well,” said Pat Nugent, divemaster.
World Oceans Day is celebrated every year on June 8.
For more information on Revive Dive, click here.
