When Edgardo Ochoa woke up in the early hours of August 20, he had a good feeling.<\/p>\n
The palm trees outside his window were still, signaling a calm day ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n For two days, Ochoa, a dive specialist at Conservation International, had worked alongside 16 other divers to remove an abandoned 90-meter-long fishing net (300 feet) \u2014 nearly the length of a soccer field \u2014 that had become a deadly trap for marine animals. The process had been more complex than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI somewhat naively thought we\u2019d be able to remove the net in a couple of dives,\u201d said Ochoa, who led the operation. \u201cBut after years on the seafloor, the net was weighed down by sand and marine life like sea stars, seahorses, snails and sea urchins that now occupied the net and needed to be moved to a safe location.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It took more than 40 hours underwater to finally pull the nearly 2-ton net out of the Esp\u00edritu Santo Archipelago National Park, a marine protected area off the coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was one of the toughest removals I\u2019ve been part of, but also one of the most rewarding,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cWhen I saw the ship pull it out of the water, I felt so relieved, like a mountain of tension was leaving my body. We finally did it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Sixteen divers helped remove the ghost net over the course of three days.<\/em><\/p>\n The operation was far from a solo endeavor.<\/span><\/p>\n For years, Conservation International-M\u00e9xico has led the charge against one of the deadliest forms of marine waste \u2014 abandoned fishing gear \u2014 by training divers, including the park rangers who patrol the protected area. Building on that groundwork, this latest mission spanned about 60 dives and united divers from Conservation International-M\u00e9xico, the National Commission of Protected Areas, the Mexican navy and the marine nonprofit COBI.<\/span><\/p>\n Ochoa has had his eye on this net for five years, after the local community alerted him of its presence. It is what is known as a \u201cghost net,\u201d abandoned fishing gear that wreaks havoc<\/a> on marine life. According to one estimate, nearly a third<\/a> of fishing lines are lost or discarded at sea. Experts estimate that more than 300,000 whales and dolphins<\/a> die each year after getting tangled in them.<\/span><\/p>\n Tragically, over the three days it took to remove the net, the divers encountered three dead sea turtles caught in the net.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wonder how many turtles, sharks and sea lions have been trapped here without anyone knowing,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cRemoving a ghost net this size isn\u2019t just a dive \u2014 it\u2019s a race against time for marine life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Measuring nearly the length of a soccer field and weighing nearly 2 tons, it is the largest net to be removed from the ocean floor.<\/em><\/p>\n Ochoa, who has cleaned up thousands of pounds of abandoned fishing gear, likens the removal of ghost nets to a choreographed dance \u2014 each diver moves in unison and has a role.<\/span><\/p>\n To clean up this net \u2014 the largest ever removed \u2014 the divers began by cutting the net in half to make it more manageable. Initially, they planned to attach the net\u2019s edges to lift bags \u2014 a device used to lift heavy objects underwater. But the net was so weighed down by sand that the bags weren\u2019t strong enough, and they had to call in backup: the Mexican Navy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was in the water when they began to pull it out,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cSeeing the ship on the horizon and seeing the net slide out of the water was a great feeling \u2014 I\u2019m not sure what we would have done if that didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Weighed down by years of sand, the net was too heavy to remove with lift bags.<\/em><\/p>\n Thankfully, the net was only about 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) deep which allowed the divers to stay underwater for longer periods, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Over the past 20 years, Ochoa has trained nearly 200 divers around the world to safely remove ghost nets, including those involved in this operation. He says he doesn\u2019t measure success by the amount of trash picked up, but rather by the number of divers who join his ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pay-it-forward kind of approach,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more people we certify, the more people that can use these skills to remove any trash they encounter \u2014 whenever and wherever they\u2019re diving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But this dive was personal for Ochoa \u2014 he went to university nearby and has been to the site many times on field and research trips.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis operation was an opportunity to pay back the place that has given me so much,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a way, it felt like a graduation for me \u2014 not only because it was bigger and more complex than anything I\u2019ve ever done, but because this place holds a special place in my heart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/ciorg.imgix.net\/images\/default-source\/non-vault-images\/redespi-ritusanto-ci-arturo-herna-ndez-12?&auto=compress&auto=format&fit=crop?&auto=compress&auto=format&w=800\")
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