the fish waiting inside the net

Ghost Nets Do Not Stop Fishing

Behind the mesh of an abandoned trap, a fish was still alive. It had swum in and could not find its way out. If nobody had gone down that day, it would have died there — not caught by anyone, just forgotten by everyone.

Lost and abandoned fishing gear — divers call it ghost gear — keeps trapping marine life for years. Add the estimated twelve million tonnes of waste entering the sea every year, and the water we love diving in Korea needs more than admiration. It needs hands.

one morning in yangyang

What Ocean Cleanup Diving in Korea Looks Like

On 19 July 2024, instructors and crew from Fourth Element Korea, NB Divers and Namae Scuba Resort met at Namae Beach in Yangyang, Gangwon-do, with vehicle support from Peugeot. Everyone came as a volunteer. After lunch together and a safety briefing from the resort’s owner, the group split into scuba and freediving teams and went to work.

The East Sea did what the East Sea does: the temperature dropped without warning and the visibility closed in. The teams stayed on task — cutting, lifting and hauling — and recovered a serious quantity of derelict nets and traps. A few fish found alive inside were released on the spot.

what came out of the water

A Pile of Nets, and the Partners Behind It

Fourth Element, the British dive brand behind the OceanPositive line, builds much of its range from recycled ghost nets, plastic bottles and old carpet — and backs marine charities like Ghost Gear, Reef-World and the Coral Restoration Foundation. Peugeot supports international marine-protection projects, from protected-area networks to research on ocean plastics, and put its cars at the crew’s disposal for the weekend.

Strangers at breakfast were buddies by noon. Between briefings and surface intervals, it felt less like a work day and more like one of our dive trips — with a purpose attached.

why we keep showing up

Diving Is Our Culture

NB Divers has been training divers in Seoul since 2000 — slowly, in small groups of one to three students, with staff instructors who each carry more than a decade of teaching. Our teaching and consulting team is led by women, and our dive professionals communicate in English, as well as Korean and Japanese. We believe education carries responsibility with it: learn it slow, keep it forever applies to the ocean, not just to skills. Not for everyone, only for you.

no banner required

How Any Diver Can Help

You do not need an event, a sponsor or a slogan. Think of the sea as your own room: clean a little, often, and it is never a mess when guests arrive. On any dive, that means three habits:

• Pick up one piece of trash per dive — one piece, every dive.
• Leave heavy nets and lines to trained hands; report them instead of pulling.
• Keep your buoyancy sharp so you can work near the bottom without touching it.

That last one is a skill, and it is trainable. Good buoyancy and rescue awareness are exactly what the next courses after Open Water are built around — they are what make a diver useful, not just present, on a cleanup. If you are not certified yet, the path starts with an Open Water course; the ocean can always use one more pair of trained hands. With action, there is hope.