Divers to help with clean-up efforts around Irish coast

Divers Ciaran King, Dermot Doyle, Mark Dennis, Ryan Stewart and Caroline Bolger taking part in the Sea Shephard Ghostnet campaign at the dive centre at Corbally, Portroe, Co Tipperary. Pictures: Dan Linehan

Deep sea divers will for the first time take our nationwide beach cleans underwater. A team of specially-trained divers will this spring begin diving as deep as 30m around our entire coast to collect hazardous waste.

While land-based beach cleans of plastic bottles and crisp packets are what we are used to,  dumped fishing gear is the biggest plastic polluter in our seas and oceans.