Divers Set World Record For Cleaning Trash From Ocean Floor

Jun 19, 2019 by apost team

When most people think of Guinness World Records, they think about silly things like eating the most sandwiches in one sitting or growing the longest toenails.

A group of divers in Florida has shown that world records can be serious, important, and meaningful as well. The Dixie Divers decided they wanted to break the previous record for the world's largest underwater cleanup.

Divers from around the world came to the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier to take part in the event.

For the previous record, an Egyptian man named Ahmed Gabr led a group of 614 divers. They spent 24 hours cleaning up the Red Sea. For the Dixie Divers' event, 633 people participated.

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Guinness sent Michael Empric all the way from New York to monitor the event. He had to click off every single diver to determine whether or not the record was actually broken. Each person who went into the water had to stay for at least 15 minutes.

They did manage to break the record. What's even more important? They cleaned up a whole lot of junk from the ocean floor.

This includes a reported 1,500 pounds worth of fishing weights alone. Divers also removed metal signs and all kinds of other rubbish.

The Dixie Divers shop organizes a pier cleanup each year. With the addition of the Guinness World Record and hundreds of extra people volunteering, there's no doubt that 2019's event was a rousing success.

Are you impressed by so many people showing up to clean the ocean? Should Dixie Divers try to break the record again next year? Let us know what you think in the comments and pass this along to your friends and family!