Impact
Our Results
Removing lost and abandoned fishing gear from the waters of Southern California.
Ghost Diving USA is a volunteer nonprofit dedicated to removing lost and abandoned fishing gear, “ghost gear”, from the ocean off Southern California. Derelict nets and traps keep catching and killing marine life for decades after they are lost, smother reefs and shipwrecks, and break down into microplastics. Our trained technical divers locate this gear, carefully cut it free, and lift it to the surface so the ocean can recover.
Since 2023, together we have removed
- 39
- missions completed
- 10,000+
- sq ft of net
- ~5,500
- lbs of debris
2025 at a glance
Lost fishing gear removed from Southern California waters in 2025
In 2025 our team completed ten missions across seven Southern California dive sites: historic shipwrecks, rocky reefs, and Catalina's Avalon Harbor. Wherever possible, recovered nets don't go to landfill: through our partnership with Healthy Seas and Aquafil, recovered netting is regenerated into new products, and several nets and traps were given a second life as public art.
- 10
- missions
- 7
- dive sites
- 3,633
- sq ft of net
- 1,800
- lbs of debris
Nothing wasted
Recovered nylon netting is sent to Aquafil through our Healthy Seas partnership, where it is regenerated into ECONYL® yarn for new products. Other nets and a recovered trap were handed to artists at AltaSea for public installations, turning ghost gear into a story the public can see.