When it comes to fishing, bigger is usually better, but that wasn’t the case during a diving tour conducted by the Newcastle Neptunes through a Go Fishing Day grant from the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Part of the day’s activities involved local kids buddying up with experienced divers to collect refuse along the Breakwall.
“The day was all about safety and sustainability,” event organiser Greg Finn told News Of The Area.

“One of our aims was to clean up an area traditionally associated with waste including plastic bags and rusty cans. To our pleasant surprise, the area along the breakwall looked cleaner than it has in years,” he said.

“We collected fishing line, old ropes and broken crab traps, but there was minimal rubbish associated with general public littering.” he said.

A highlight of the dive was spotting a large Mangrove Jack. There was also an array of soft sponges, corals and nudibranchs inhabiting the wall.

Following the breakwall cleanup, participants took part in a guided snorkel dive to collect lobsters.
“Lots of mums and dads would have been happy with their Sunday night dinner.”
“Lobster Linguine sure beats eggs on toast,” Mr Finn said.

In addition to the practical event, junior divers received instruction on a range of safety issues including prop safety, the use of A-Flags and avoiding shallow water blackout.

Attendees also received free A-Flag floats and lots of other goodies including sample bags from NSW DPI and RMS.
The Newcastle Neptunes Safety and Sustainability day was funded by a NSW Go Fishing Day Grant.

For further information, please contact event organiser Greg Finn on 0429183716.

By Mandy ELLIS