dredger

On the very first deployment of an underwater camera they observed parallel lines on the seabed which are created when a dredger's gear is dragged across it.

They joined dredgers trawling for scallops along the UK coastline.

Kinmen residents in recent years have reported seeing an increase in sand dredger vessels from China, which take sand from the ocean floor, as well as fishing ships, close to its coast.

"The real problem is when fishing vessels and dredgers encounter unexploded ordnance," says Mr Gooderham.

First came the dredgers, the scientists who dragged giant shovels behind sailing ships and picked through the biological rubble.