Divers are making a splash to look for trash by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver 23 | Thursday, April 23, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com A group of scuba divers will make a splash at Coronation Park Sunday (April 26) in an effort to clean up the waterfront. With support from the Town of Oakville, the gathering -- organized by Oakville residents Steve Camacho and Robert Shannon, along with Mark Fronczak -- will focus on removing debris from Lake Ontario and along the park shoreline. The free public event will promote Project Aware, an organization dedicated to educating divers about emerging ocean issues and encouraging participation in underwater conservation activities. "I have always been supportive in making a difference by protecting the environment we live in every day. Many of us do not realize the impact to sea life and our own health and safety because of the way we discard our trash," Camacho said. As a diver who's Project Awarecertified, Camacho's had opportunity to "see the world from a different perspective," underwater, he said. "I am overwhelmed at the amount of debris I see above and below the water and on the shorelines. Many of us in North America are blessed to have drinkable tap water, unlike many other countries whose water resources are saturated with toxins," he said. "We need to educate our population today on the actions we must take to preserve our water resources for future generations." Shannon, a diver and owner of a local scuba shop, has coordinated several waterfront cleanups. He hopes this one will become an annual affair. The entrepreneur is active in the community and wanted to help Camacho and Fronczak with ideas and logistics support, Shannon said. Any time you can remove contamination from the water or shore, especially plastic bags, Shannon said, it "makes it better for the marine environment and for the people who use the park," said Shannon. "It's used by thousands of people in the summer. We find bottles and we can clean that up so kids don't cut their feet. If everybody does a little bit, it makes a big difference. If nobody does anything, then nothing ever gets done," Shannon said.. Some of his commercial diving jobs are environmental cleanups and Shannon is "always picking up stuff Oakville's Steve Camacho is co-organizer of a clean up, on shore and off shore, at Coronation Park Sunday (April 26). | photo by Nathan Howes - special to the Beaver and throwing it out," he said. "We have a big fishing net, so when we see something out there, we get the students to hook it up and grab the garbage. There's broken bottles, shopping carts," said Shannon. "It's amazing the amount of things you can find in the lake -- bikes, trash, but the big marine killer internationally is balloons. People let balloons off and they kill whales, dolphins, sharks or turtles." He said Lake Ontario water is supposed to be "naturally tan or muddy" because of clay in the escarpment, but with the explosion of the invasive zebra mussels in recent years, that's not the case. "Zebra mussels have absorbed so much of the phosphate, you can use phosphate soap now because it will actually help the lake. Before the fresh, green-looking fresh water from Lake Ontario, it was brown, so people automatically thought it was toxic pollution. But it wasn't," said Shannon. He's been an active member with Project Aware for several years and introduced the group locally with the Mississauga Scuba Club. "It was quite successful and they were really happy with it. We did it for a year or two and then it fell to the wayside. Club members and interest changed. This is just the next opportunity (cleanup) that we've had to start it up again," said Shannon. The cleanup will take place on Sunday, April 26 at Coronation Park, east parking lot, from 10 a.m. 2 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the alternate location will be at 126 Water St., below the Randall Street bridge. For information, contact Robert Shannon at 905-842-8881 or info@ oakvilledivers.com. A Facebook page for the event can be viewed at www. facebook.com/projectawareoakville.