Stray Scylla net to be removed

A lost fishing net snagged on the HMS Scylla artificial reef is to be removed by a team of divers.

Technical diver Rich Stevenson is leading the group charged with the task.

Scylla – which lies in shallow water about 25 metres deep off Plymouth – is a major diving tourist attraction.

She was prepared and then sunk in Whitsand Bay off Plymouth on the Devon/Cornwall border in 2004.

In December 2011, divers reported seeing a commercial fishing net caught up on a section of the ship’s superstructure.

Estimated to be around 100 metres long, the net has since gone on to trap a quantity of fish and other marine life.

And it is, of course, a potentially serious entanglement hazard to sport divers.

The National Marine Aquarium, which oversees management of the site, has warned divers to avoid the Scylla until the net has been removed.