From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best Scuba-Diving Expedition

September 21 2005

Ocean Watch Foundation Reef Sweep and Beach Cleanup
www.oceanwatch.org

Every June, the environmental advocacy group Ocean Watch calls on volunteer scuba divers to scour for debris dropped by delinquent boaters along the reefs off the Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach piers. While this year's dive was called off because of Hurricane Arlene, the Reef Sweep has become an invaluable resource in preserving the incandescent beauty of our offshore underworld. Last year, 62 divers from nine local dive clubs strapped on tanks, fins and masks to load trash onto eight charter boats. In conjunction with the reef cleanup, another 600 or so volunteers walked along six Broward beaches to pick up bottles, cans, wrappers and other junk left by people too lazy or indifferent to use a trash can. This year's beach walk resulted in more than 5,000 pounds of trash being collected, pushing the haul of flotsam picked up from the sand and reefs since 1989 to more than 26 tons.