Photos by STEVE JASIECKI/About 50 volunteers showed up Saturday, April 9 to clean up the beach in Margate.
Submitted by STEVE JASIECKI
MARGATE – With data cards in hand, volunteers in 70 municipalities, including Downbeach towns, hit the beaches Saturday for the Clean Ocean Action spring beach sweep.
The Spring Beach Sweep is the first of two annual cleanups and data collecting that the Clean Ocean Action sponsors. The second beach sweep will take place in October.
The first beach sweep started in 1985 and is now one of the longest running cleanups in the world. Community groups, students, families and individuals armed with gloves, trash bags, buckets and data cards set out to clean the beach and document the types and amount of trash they find.
“The data helps researchers identify the amounts and types of debris found for their annual reports,” according to COA. “The information is submitted to the Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C., as part of its international database on marine debris and worldwide campaign against ocean pollution.”
The City of Margate had about 50 people show up throughout the morning at the station on Granville Avenue and the beach. Recycling Coordinator and COA Beach Captain Anthony Edge was busy handing out gloves, bags and data cards to the volunteers.
“We had a nice turn out today” Edge said. “It was a bit chilly with an overcast sky and people still came out for the cleanup”.
Most of the debris was found along the bulkhead and the sand dunes where litter gets caught up in the fencing. About 20 bags of trash were collected in Margate.
The goal of the Beach Sweeps is to reduce and eliminate sources of litter. The Beach Sweeps events are more than people picking up trash from beaches. This program builds community support for solutions, as well as raises awareness about the negative impacts of litter on wildlife and the ocean. Citizens learn about the types and quantities of debris found along the coast and the shorelines of rivers, lakes and streams.
More information about Clean Ocean Action can be found at https://cleanoceanaction.org/beach-sweeps/annual-beach-sweeps-reports/index.php?id=153
