Shopping trolleys, a microwave, a suitcase, road cones and plenty of plastic have previously been found in Otago Harbour, and more than 12 local divers are heading out again this weekend to collect rubbish from the water.
The divers will take part in the annual Dive Against Debris event, which will be held again this year at Wellers Rock along with a beach clean-up at Pilots Beach.
Dive Otago instructor and local Dive Against Debris event co-ordinator Emma Young said divers collected more than 26kg of rubbish from Wellers Rock last year.
''You go down to the beach [at Pilots Beach] and there's rubbish everywhere,'' she said of the beach clean-up.
She said they had collected rubbish at Macandrew Bay the two years before that, collecting 156kg in 2013 and 271kg in 2012.
Ms Young attributed the difference in collection sizes due to the fact Macandrew Bay was closer to the central city and that divers frequently dived at Wellers Rock, picking up rubbish during their dives.
The day is held in conjunction with other Dive Against Debris events around the world and is organised by Project Aware, an international organisation encouraging divers to help with different projects to protect the ocean.
Though the dive has been running for many years, it is only in the last four years that groups have been encouraged to document the exact amount and type of rubbish collected to help paint a worldwide picture of the rubbish in the ocean, Ms Young said.
She said it was ''frustrating'' to see the amount of rubbish in the ocean, though it was just as bad on land.
Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said they occasionally found seabirds and marine mammals caught up in fishing equipment and plastic strapping in Otago Harbour.
He said he had once had to remove plastic strapping from around a male sealion.
Mr Fyfe advised locals to keep rubbish out of the harbour.
- By Greta Yeoman
