“EVERYWHERE we go we find coconuts and sex toys floating around.”

So says Dave Hellard, 34, a professional dredger.

He and a team of experts have been removing thousands of live fish from the Wey and Arun Canal in a bid to restore this lost route from London to the sea.

So far, they have shifted 7,000 fish so the waterway can be drained and repaired.

They rely on a technique called electro-fishing, which involves donning waders, stunning the fish with an electric current and moving them to safer waters.

But in their time dredging the rivers of Sussex, the team have netted a few unusual items alongside the hundreds of roach, eels, carp and tench.

Dave said: “You find all sorts. It’s full of surprises.

“We get a lot of goldfish. When they’ve outgrown their tanks, people think it’s a good idea to set them free in rivers and canals.

“But they breed with Crucian carp, one of our small native species, and it can ruin their genome.

“They take on goldfish characteristics, and can end up a bit orange, and with big fan tails.”

Dave has an intimate knowledge of the county’s rivers. He has spent his career knee-deep in the Wey and Arun, Adur and the Rother.

He said: “The rivers in Sussex are in pretty good shape. It’s the urban ones that are most polluted. Overall they’re in good nick here.

“But we still get the odd bit of rubbish and a lot of random stuff.

“We’ve found a fair few sex toys in the last 18 months. They seem to pop up in the river. I’ve found versions for women and blokes. I guess people think it’s a good way of chucking them away.

“We get a lot of coconuts too. They float and they’re often stuck on weirs.

“I’ve heard some pretty incredible stories. When I was a student a long time ago, an electro-fisherman found a skinned bear. This was in the UK.

“As I say, the work’s very varied.”

Dave’s company, Aquamaintain, has been working alongside some 3,000 members and volunteers from the Wey and Arun Canal Trust, who are trying to clear the 200-year-old waterway.

So far, the project to restore the canal has seen 22 bridges and two aqueducts reconstructed, 11 locks restored, many miles of canal bed cleared, and a cornucopia of curiosities dredged up.