Divers near the Deerfield Beach Fishing Pier set a Guinness World Record on Saturday after 633 retrieved over 1,500 pounds of trash.
They came from all over the country, including 13-year old Dahlia Bolin from Mackinaw, Illinois, who retrieved a metal sign at the bottom of the ocean floor. The sign read “Boats must not come within 100 yard of pier.” Dahlia said, “It was just kind of buried in the sand. There’s a lot of heavy weights for fishing line down there, but there’s some really beautiful fish, mostly.”
Lead fishing weights made up most of the garbage pile along with 60 pounds of fishing line. Other debris included wood, plastic, and metal scraps. Ocean conservation groups estimate the cleanup claimed nearly 3,200 pounds of debris, but an official count has not been reported just yet.
The previous record was set by 614 divers off the coast of Egypt and took 24 hours. The 633 in South Florida on Saturday did it in just two.
