I’ve been fascinated by marine life since I was a tadpole. In the ’60s, I lived on Lake Erie, swimming every summer in waters 9 miles from the Cuyahoga River, which ­famously caught fire and burned for three days in 1969. Every time I went out, I would swim through schools of fish in distress, with lesions on their skin, gasping for oxygen. Ever since, I’ve done all I can to make our waters safer for animals.

In 1999 I came across an abandoned lobster trap that had seven lobsters in it. My dive partners and I released them all to live another day. When we got back to the boat, everyone was elated. That was my first experience with how it feels to help wildlife in danger. It made me want to do it again, on a regular basis. I started Ocean Defenders Alliance in 2000 to get like-minded folks to volunteer their time to remove ­man-made ­debris that can harm or kill wildlife.

A few years later, we were removing a huge net off a California wreck; it was ­nylon, and would have been there another 650 years if left in place. As we were attaching our lift bags, we could see several species of rockfish escaping. Most rockfish are on the endangered list — many can live to around 100 years, and some to the ripe old age of 200.

Living that long means that these fish can procreate for a long time. That fine day, we released about 12 rockfish. Again, a feeling of elation came over the entire crew. We have removed a lot of material from the sea over the years: 300 traps, 26,000 pounds of net, 38,000 feet of trap lines, and 33,000 pounds of ­debris. But you just can’t top being part of a team that allowed a dozen fish to live up to ­another 200 years!

Kurt Lieber is the Founder of Ocean Defenders Alliance