Divers to retrieve lost fishing gear near sunken destroyer off San Pedro

Divers to retrieve lost fishing gear near sunken destroyer off San Pedro

Source: ocregister

4/27/2022

A team of volunteer divers will descend 45 meters into the ocean off San Pedro on Thursday, April 28, to retrieve lost commercial fishing gear near a sunken pre-WWII destroyer as part of an international effort to clean the world’s oceans and protect marine life.

The dive represents the first effort undertaken in the United States by the nonprofit Healthy Seas, partnering with the newly established U.S. chapter of Ghost Diving, which is providing a team of six volunteer technical divers who specialize in removing lost fishing gear and other marine debris.

The crew will stage off the San Pedro harbor at 7:30 a.m. Thursday before heading out.

The site was chosen for the presence of the USS Moody, which was split into two pieces and sunk as part of the 1933 movie “Hell Below,” a World War I submarine thriller from MGM starring Robert Montgomery and Walter Huston.

“Since the local fishermen may not know about the wreck, it is a huge obstacle that catches ghost nets from time to time,” said Christina Wiegers, project manager for Healthy Seas.

“The wreck is home to a few species of rockfish,” she added, “as they like rocky reef habitats and it provides a valuable nursery for them.”