Two diesel engine blocks, four boat batteries, two fuel tanks, an exhaust pipe, the hull of a boat and hundreds of feet of wiring. They were some of the clunky, rusty debris hauled out of Nantucket Harbor this spring, part of an inaugural Harbor Clean Up Initiative that pulled over 3,500 pounds worth of metal, plastic and other hazardous junk from the water.

“This is a no-brainer,” said Kevin Korn, the executive director of the Nantucket Shellfish Association, which organized the project. “This is a huge safety hazard. Imagine if kids jump in the water and hit it, or the toxic materials in batteries if those batteries leaked. We want to get it out of there.”

While the debris has been out of sight—and out of mind—for years, the buildup of old boating parts and other large material has become a growing safety hazard for swimmers, boaters and fishermen, particularly commercial scallopers who drag for Nantucket Bay Scallops. Not only that, the decaying metal and plastic, along with battery acid and fuel, has created an environmental risk for marine life.

Some of the material is believed to have come from a vessel out of Egg Harbor, New Jersey, that sank over 20 years in the harbor off Monomoy. “This project just makes total sense,” Korn said. “There have been a ton of projects to protect the health of the harbor, but nobody has done this. Water quality and water health is so important to Nantucket and the Nantucket Shellfish Association.”

For anyone who observed the operation, it may have looked like a regular barge with a crane out on the water on a gloomy Nantucket morning in May. But this is no normal barge. Diver Chris Fuller heads into the water in a spot identified by scalloper Bruce Cowan, where Cowan had previously encountered debris. On board, Korn, Nantucket Moorings owner Tim Reinemo and mate Chris Bell haul up the metal boards, lines, and large boat parts. From there, the debris was taken to the town boat launch to be transported to a recycling center in Middleborough.

“It’s an amazing effort—amazing for our scallopers who scallop through those areas, where if they got caught on that debris, it could have sunk a boat,” said Harbormaster Sheila Lucey, who worked on the clean-up effort. “For boaters’ safety, it’s so important.”

“When boats sink, they’re abandoned and then it becomes everybody’s problem, so there’s more to be done,” she added. “There’s going to be a second phase. First and foremost, we need to make sure the harbor is safe, and that’s what this project is all about.