Gray Quarry Clean-up day results lead by Dale DeBoer, Written by Zachary Machuga
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On March 26, 2016 we held a Dive Against Debris and land Clean-up day. We had a small turn out of 6 people but had big results! We started out cleaning up on land. We found a large amount of trash that had been blown around over the winter. We cleaned in the brush and along the waters edge. We did not have enough divers to do an underwater clean-up. So, we broke off into two groups and two people went out in the Canoe. The group in the Canoe found a lot of debris floating along the edge of the quarry. I believe we found so much, due to increased rain fall this winter and high winds. The quarry sits next to an instate and close to fast food locations. We found all kinds of trash and natural debris. The saddest thing we found was a dead Mallard duck that had drowned by getting entangled in fishing line. This quarry is no longer open to fishing but at one point in history people would trespass and fish there. The new owner does not allow fishing and it has become just a dive site. The owner is making great efforts to clean the area and to make it safe for divers and wildlife. We found around 50lbs of trash on the water and around the shore line. We found more on the land but I did not include it in the survey we conducted. The following is the result of the water surface/water edge clean up:2) Plastic trash bags3) Bait containers9) 2lt or less beveage bottles 1) bouy1) cigarette filter1) cigarette lighter3) fishing lures30) pieces of foam packaging8) plastic food wrapers2) staws5) plastic fragments7) Glass beverage bottles20) pieces of glass fragments1) aluminium can4) foil wrappers1) large tractor tire5) treated lumber floating10) wood fragments So although we did not have a large group of people and we stayed on the waters surface we had an amazing clean up day. People need to be aware of how much blows around on windy days and to make sure your trash is in a secure place. Thank you to everyone that came out and helped make a great dive site even better!
