Meet our incredible volunteer divers
A dedicated team from a variety of diving agencies, each bringing their skills, passion, and commitment to our mission of removing ghost gear from UK waters. While not all of our volunteers are listed here, every single one plays a vital role in what we do.
If you’re a diver interested in joining the team, please fill out our Diver Volunteer Form or check out our FAQs.
If you’ve spotted any Ghost Gear use our Diver Reporting Form to let us know.
I did my Ghostfishing UK training course in November 2023, and joined for my first trip with Ghostfishing UK in April 2024 at one of our Brighton Projects. Since, I was also lucky enough to join the December 2024 Dunoon Project where we recovered over 60 pots, and saved hundreds of critters lives!I trained with PADI all the way through from Open Water to Instructor and in technical diving, and work as the Dive Centre Manager and Lead Instructor for a Dive Centre in Teignmouth, Devon.I really wanted to get involved with Ghostfishing UK initially after seeing their work firsthand as they came out to clear a huge gill net trapping everything from fish, to crabs, to cormorants on our local wreck site and saw what an amazing job they were doing.I love being involved with the charity, and although my job means I can’t join as many Projects as I’d like (diving instructor with weekends off, not likely!), I still try to get on as many as I can to help clear our Oceans!"
I joined GFUK back in 2019 after hearing all about the charity from Fred Nunn (Trustee and Operations Officer) and someone dropping out of the course last minute. I joined the charity as I wanted to do more with my diving. I am a PADI rescue diver and been diving since 2012. I am in the Armed Forces and also the Welfare Officer for the charity.
Cornwall is a beautiful place to dive but you also see what others don’t. I have seen the damage caused by lost fishing equipment and plastic. I wanted to make a difference and heard of GFUK and the work they do. I was not sure if I was qualified or good enough before the training course, coming from PADI recreational and then switching to TDI for my twinset training the GFUK course showed me teamwork and safe work practices to make a genuine difference to our world.
I've been diving with Ghost Fishing UK since around 2017, my first project was the James Eagan Layne in Plymouth. I'm a BSAC Dive Leader and got involved through my club. On seeing ALDFG on pretty much every dive, I wanted to do something about it. Outside of Ghost Fishing, I work as a software engineer. I'm lucky enough to work remotely while living in Cornwall with my wife and (crazy) dog.
I found GFUK through a friend, as we were both looking at doing something productive with our diving. Well we found it! Only being qualified as a BSAC sports diver I was apprehensive of applying, but soon realised that they aren’t looking for the diver with all the badges and stickers, just the ability to listen ,learn and work together and for each other, and the objective. Being a company director of a successful electrical wholesaler now limits the amount of time I can dive with the team, but as our numbers grow it lessons the pressure on individuals . I have donated money & gifts to the charity to help raise funds and also organised a raffle which raised over a £1000, which is easy to organise if anyone wants to help with organising to contribute. The charity is just that , a charity. It needs all the funds it can find as well as the free time the divers give up on each project. GFUK was obliviously set up very well with excellent training before I joined , which has created a team of divers which you can literally trust your life with, and have the most rewarding diving experiences ever. It’s nice to give something back and help our oceans, as much as we can… as we all know they need it!
I got into Ghost Fishing UK through the Sheffield University Sub-Aqua Club and have mainly trained with BSAC. I dive with GFUK to get involved in project diving with a real purpose—helping clean up our seas and make a positive impact on the underwater environment. Professionally, I work in transport, although I’m currently applying to go back to university to study for a PhD.
I joined Ghost Fishing relatively recently at the end of 2024 with the aim of increasing the amount of project diving work I undertake in our waters. It doesn’t take many UK sea dives to realise how polluted our seas are, and ALDFG has a clear and significant impact to the quality and biodiversity of our oceans. It was seeing the debris that litters many wrecks that inspired me to join - with a little badgering from colleagues! Coming from a background in cave, tech, and rebreather diving largely through Global Underwater Explorers, Ghost Fishing fits perfectly with my experience and ethos, in many ways joining was inevitable, and it gives me a significant amount of job satisfaction to help our overall cause. Day by day (or night by night) I’m a lighting director and can be found designing the lighting for many TV multi-cam broadcasts.
Joining Ghost Fishing UK felt like a natural extension of my work. As a Dive RAID instructor I've witnessed first-hand the beauty and fragility of our local marine environment here on the west coast of Scotland. My skills in diving, coupled with my experience as an ROV supervisor and dive centre owner, provide a unique perspective and practical abilities to tackle the devastating issue of ghost gear. I'm eager to contribute directly to cleaning up our seas, protecting the incredible biodiversity we have, and making a tangible difference to the underwater world I love.
I started diving in 2007 and I am a regular diver along the South Coast. I trained with BSAC, becoming a diving instructor in 2010.I have a passion for wreck diving and marine life, seeing ghost gear tangled up on dives and the damage it causes was always a sad sight.I joined Ghost Fishing in 2023 as a new challenge to my diving.Diving with GFUK gives me the opportunity to use my diving skills to give back to the ocean and help to clean up harmful ghost gear, making it a safer place for sea life and visiting divers.In my day job I work as a Senior Project Manager for a Yacht Design Studio on the South Coast.