Expedition aims to extract deadly fishing net from ocean floor
Donny Neal attaches a special dive tank to a harness worn by Paul Tattreau. The tank held a special nitrous oxide mixture that enabled them to spend more time at the bottom while reducing the chances of getting sick. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
A group of technical divers gathered Sunday off the coast of Santa Catalina Island to cut a huge fishing net off of the Infidel, a fishing boat that sank two years ago. The billowing net has been catching and killing ocean dwellers including sharks and sea lions ever since. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
This brittle star, rescued from a portion of the net cut from the Infidel, was returned to the sea. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Donny Neal and Kurt Lieber haul in netting. Its one of the spookiest things Ive ever seen,” Lieber said of the underwater wreck site, where bones of countless dead marine animals litter the ocean floor. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
A diver prepares her gear as the Captain Jack, a 75-foot trawler, approaches Avalon harbor. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Dana Hoover, 8, prepares to look for surviving sea life in a recovered net. She and other youngsters picked brittle stars, gobies and sea slugs off the net and tossed them back in the ocean. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)