On a recent Sunday afternoon, the divers arrived on a thin strip of sand at the furthest, watery edge of New York City. Air tanks strapped to their backs, they waded into the sea and descended into an environment far different from their usual terrestrial surroundings of concrete, traffic and trash-strewn sidewalks.

Horseshoe crabs and other crustaceans crawl on a seabed encrusted with barnacles and colonies of coral. Spiny-finned sea robin, blackfish and wayward angelfish swim in the murky ocean tinted green by sheets of algae.

Not all is pretty. Plastic bottles, candy wrappers and miles and miles of fishing line drift with the tides, endangering sea life.

The undersea litter isn91裸聊视频檛 always visible from the shore. But it has long been a concern of Nicole Zelek, founder of the dive school SuperDive who four years ago launched monthly cleanups at this small cove in the community of Far Rockaway, where New York City meets the Atlantic Ocean, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens.

A throwaway culture of single-use plastics and other hard-to-degrade material has over the decades, posing a danger to marine life such as seals and seabirds.

Dive by dive, small groups like Zelek91裸聊视频檚 have been trying to undo some of the damage as part of the DIVERS-ity Inititative, which promotes inclusion in the sport.

91裸聊视频淓very month we have a prize for the weirdest find,91裸聊视频� she said. They have included the occasional goat skull, perhaps used as part of some ritual, Zelek surmises.

91裸聊视频淭he best find of all time was an actual ATM machine. Unfortunately, it was empty,91裸聊视频� she said.

The divers91裸聊视频� haul one late-summer Sunday wasn91裸聊视频檛 much, but there were clumps and clumps of fishing line untangled from underwater objects. What the divers can91裸聊视频檛 pull away by hand is cut with scissors.

91裸聊视频淯nfortunately, tons of crabs and 91裸聊视频� which are under threat 91裸聊视频� get tangled in the fishing line and then they die,91裸聊视频� Zelek said.

While are underway to scoop up huge accumulations of floating debris in deeper waters, small-scale coastal cleanups like Zelek91裸聊视频檚 are an important part of the battle against ocean pollution, said Nick Mallos, vice president of conservation for Ocean Conservancy.

91裸聊视频淭he science is very clear and that91裸聊视频檚 to tackle our global plastic pollution crisis,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淲e have to do it all.91裸聊视频�

Every September, the conservancy holds monthlong international coastal cleanups. Since its inception nearly four decades ago, the cleanups have retrieved about 400 million pounds (181.4 million kilograms) of trash from coastal areas around the world.

The best way to combat plastics going into the oceans, Mallos said, is to reduce the globe91裸聊视频檚 dependence on them, particularly in packaging consumer products. But human-powered cleanup is the least costly of all cleanup options.

By 2025, some 250 million tons (226.7 million metric tons) of plastic will have found its way into the , according to the PADI AWARE Foundation, a conservation group sponsoring a global project called Dive Against Debris.

The project invites what organizers call 91裸聊视频渃itizen scientists91裸聊视频� to survey their diving sites to help catalog the myriad items that don91裸聊视频檛 belong in oceans, lakes and other bodies of water. By the group91裸聊视频檚 count, more than 90,000 participants have conducted more than 21,000 such surveys and removed 2.2 million pieces of junk, big and small.

Zelek and her fellow divers have contributed their finds to the project.

Surface trash might be easy enough to clear with a rake, but the task is more challenging beneath the water. Over the years, the layers of monofilament fishing line have accumulated. And until a few years ago, no one was scooping out the line, hooks and lead weights.

Untangled, a pound of medium-weight fishing filament would stretch to a bit more than 4 miles (6.4 kilometers). It91裸聊视频檚 anybody91裸聊视频檚 guess how many miles of fishing line remain on the channel91裸聊视频檚 bottom.

91裸聊视频淭hose small things are really what start to accumulate and become a much larger and bigger problem,91裸聊视频� said Tanasia Swift, who has been with the group for a year and works for an environmental nonprofit focused on restoring the health of New York City91裸聊视频檚 waters.

91裸聊视频淚f there91裸聊视频檚 anything that we see that doesn91裸聊视频檛 belong in the water, we take it out,91裸聊视频� she said.

While the drivers work, fishermen cast their lines from a ledge where the city91裸聊视频檚 concrete stops. The beach is frequented mostly by residents who live nearby.

Raquel Gonzalez is one such resident, and she91裸聊视频檚 been coming to the beach for years. She and a neighbor brought a rake with them on the same Sunday the divers were there.

91裸聊视频淣eeds a lot of cleanup here. There91裸聊视频檚 nobody that does any cleanup around here. We have to clean it up ourselves,91裸聊视频� she said.

91裸聊视频淚 love this spot, I love the scuba divers,91裸聊视频� Gonzalez said. 91裸聊视频淟ook at all the good people here.91裸聊视频�