A worrying number of electric scooters are ending up in the harbour off Wellington's waterfront.
Since they were introduced to the capital last year, around 20 e-scooters have been fished out of the water by coastline clean-up group Ghost Fishing New Zealand.
1 NEWS went out on one of their dive operations, where eight scooters were on their hitlist.
Rob Wilson from Ghost Fishing says scooters are being thrown into the water regularly.
"Unfortunately with the sewerage leak that was here, it cut us off from having access to this area and it's accumulated, and I’d be very surprised if we don't find more here," he told 1 NEWS.
Once the scooters are underwater, most are ruined.
“The biggest problem is people throwing them in!” Mr Wilson says.
One e-scooter pulled from the water while 1 NEWS was there, had been sitting on the ocean floor for 21 days, with the sea life already taking over.
"A lot of the areas we're targeting primarily, there has been an surge of life, which is a really encouraging sign," Mr Wilson says.
Hannah Hendriks from the Department of Conservation is also unimpressed.
"With e-scooters, there'll be battery acid leaking into the environment so that'll be toxic to many different species, not to mention it's just affecting the sea floor environment that many animals rely on to live."
Mr Wilson says it's not just scooters being hauled from the water.
"We discovered three full sized porcelain toilets on the sea bed. One was sitting perfectly upright, all ready to be utilised."
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