But the mounds of waste retrieved from Nelson Bay breakwall has given this bunch of young divers serious bragging rights.

As part of Gone Fishing Day on October 16 a group of experienced divers from Newcastle Neptunes took children down to retrieve waste that included old crab pots and tangled fishing line.

“The day was all about safety and sustainability,” event organiser Greg Finn said.

“One of our aims was to clean up an area traditionally associated with waste including plastic bags and rusty cans.

“To our pleasant surprise, the area along the breakwall looked cleaner than it has in years.

“We collected fishing line, old ropes and broken crab traps, but there was minimal rubbish associated with general public littering.”

A highlight of the dive for the children was spotting a large Mangrove Jack, besides the sense of achievement from a job well done, of course. 

The divers also reported seeing an array of soft sponges, corals and nudibranchs inhabiting the wall.

With the hard work completed, participants took part in a guided snorkel dive to collect lobsters.

“Lots of mums and dads would have been happy with their Sunday night dinner,” Mr Finn said.

“Lobster linguine sure beats eggs on toast.”

In addition to the practical event, junior divers received instruction on a range of safety issues including prop safety, the use of A-Flags and avoiding shallow water blackout.

Attendees also received free A-Flag floats and lots of other goodies including sample bags from NSW DPI and RMS.

The Newcastle Neptunes Safety and Sustainability day was funded by a NSW Go Fishing Day grant.