Team North Scuba Club removes 8,000 lb of garbage from Con Mine Wharf

Joint Task Force North’s scuba club cleaned up the waters of Con Mine Wharf on Friday, removing eight truckloads and an estimated 8,000 lb of garbage – including an infamous couch.

It was a “phenomenal day,” said Jeremy MacDonald, one of the organizers. He’s the instructor for the Team North Scuba Club and is also known for the Facebook group where he shares stuff he finds diving in Yellowknife.

MacDonald said they had five divers on Friday pulling garbage out of the water, as well as approximately 20 people on shore to sort through the finds and move the garbage from the dive site to the landfill. Volunteers came from Joint Task Force North (JTFN), the 440 Squadron, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Coast Guard.

One of the most interesting things they pulled out of Con Mine Wharf on Friday included an old qamutiik sled. They also found a lot of tires and fishing lures.

And, of course, they hauled away a couch that was abandoned on the melting ice of Great Slave Lake earlier this year. The couch made its way to shore before the lake thawed, and has been waiting on shore for its ride to the dump since May. The ride finally came.

‘There’s always new junk down there’

“We’ve cleaned up that area before, so we’re always surprised that there’s new junk down there,” MacDonald said.

“I think people take liberties with the dock and throw tires into the water. We found a set of four tires that didn’t look like they were used on a dock…. I think people dump tires there to avoid paying the fees at the landfill.”

Seeing the garbage underwater is “depressing” MacDonald said.

“I mean, you go underwater, you are in a part of nature, so it’s nice to see flora, fauna, see the reef, see the fish, and then you come upon some trash,” he said. “It’s the equivalent of being in a park and seeing trash.”

The cleanup efforts have been supported by JTFN as well as the city, which waived landfill fees for the group.

The Team North Scuba Club endeavours to pull 10,000 lb of debris and garbage from the waters around Yellowknife annually through multiple cleanup dives.

In addition to Con Mine, they cleaned up the waters around Wiley’s Wharf last week. MacDonald said they’ve also had reports from some Air Tindi pilots that “they saw a bunch of tires and junk kind of around their area,” so they might cleanup the waters around Air Tindi in the next week or so.

If there are more people who are interested in helping, “They’re more than welcome to come out,” MacDonald said.