Two club rescue boats and about 12 members went along the shorelines around the sailing areas, cleaning up waste that couldn't be reached by land.

Tyres, polystyrene boxes, bottles and rope were among some of the items recovered from the waters. A truck-load of rubbish was gathered from clearing efforts.

Yacht Club commodore Steve McEllwee said he was amazed by how much debris was recovered over the day.

"This is our area of Port Dalrymple and we are happy to accept responsibility for cleaning it up as best we can," he said.

Club patron Peter Kearney said he hoped the cleaning efforts would make an impact.

"Hopefully each year there will be less and less rubbish collected as the backlog is cleared away and no new rubbish is dumped," Mr Kearney said.