As part of our continual reef clean up practice whilst diving in Kata Bay, Phuket, recently we encountered abandoned gill nets off Kata Reef North on 5th October 2020.

Whilst not necessarily searching for nets, it is a bit difficult to ignore when you swim into these virtually invisible traps. A short report by members of our Five-O Dive Club on the recovery is below.

"At 11.5 meters depth, after 43 minutes of diving I looked up from my camera just as I collided with net number 1, my buddy and I signaled each other OK and followed the net which was tangled on boulders and corals rolling it up as we went having cut through it to get a starting point." Simon J. Herbert, our PADI IDC Staff Instructor explained.

"It was pretty relentless and seemed to go on forever but eventually found the end and swam it back to shore." 

"The following day, we planned to go back to the same spot to retrieve the remainder of the other half of the net which we found but came across an additional net running in approximately the same direction which we also collected, these nets had been weighted down with anchor lines and in addition had bait pouches tied to them filled with dead fish of undetermined species.

We managed to wrap the nets all up and swim back to shore." Simon continued.

View the recovery dives video below.

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Both nets were approximately 100+ meters long with floats and weights so had no reason to be anchored down on the sea bed. They had been purposely placed across the channel between Pu Island and Kata Reef North which is a potential hazard for divers.

All lead weights and floats have been removed along with the holding lines the monofilament netting will be incinerated and the salvaged material will be upcycled into reusable items.