A weekend expedition to remove a ‘killer’ fishing net wound around a shipwreck off Santa Catalina Island was a partial success, with 800 pounds worth of netting from the 9,000-pound net brought to the surface.

The net is deadly to sea life, such as sea lions and dolphins, when they try to eat smaller creatures that become tangled and are caught themselves. A group called the Ocean Defenders Alliance, which specializes in removing derelict fishing gear in Southern California waters, will likely need several more trips to remove the entire net.

Bill Cooper, a UC Irvine professor who helped on the expedition, said the netting brought up Saturday and Sunday yielded the skull of a sea lion — obviously, an animal that had been caught in the ‘killer’ net.

“It can entangle divers just as easily as it can entangle a fish or a mammal,” Cooper said of the dangerous operation, which required repeated dives to as much as 150 feet. “This stuff is unwieldy.” Photo of net section being hauled into boat courtesy of Bill Cooper.)

The volunteer divers, 13 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday, had to use specialized equipment to reach the needed depth. They laboriously cut out pieces of the net and attached lines so they could be pulled to the surface.

The net sections were hauled onto the Captain Jack, the boat being used by the Ocean Defenders Alliance, a bit at a time, allowing each part of the net to drain.

“We had one piece of the net that was so heavy, we had to use the winch to get it up onto the ship,” Cooper said.

The wreck is a squid trawler that sank two years ago.

“The ship still looks like it is completely enclosed in netting,” Cooper said.

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