Submitted by The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife
Washington CoastSavers is pleased to announce that registration is now open for participating in the International Coastal Cleanup, September 21. Volunteers can select from dozens of beaches to clean from Cape Disappointment to Cape Flattery. Washington State Parks and the Pacific Northwest 4 Wheel Drive Association have been organizing beach cleanups on the third weekend of April since 1971, but this is the first time CoastSavers are joining the effort. Volunteers cleaning the beach on September 21 will be joined by thousands of others around the world, all sharing the common goal of protecting the marine environment.
Washington CoastSavers is an alliance of committed representatives from public agencies, private organizations and passionate individuals who have joined their energies to ensure the ocean beaches of Washington State are regularly cleaned. Founding members of CoastSavers include representatives from the Lions Club International, Discover Your Northwest, Grass Roots Garbage Gang, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, Olympic National Park, and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Since 2007, their efforts have been concentrated on the Washington Coast Cleanup which occurs in April every Earth Day weekend. The expansion of CoastSavers efforts are largely due to support from Ocean Conservancy.
If you want to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup, see www.coastsavers.org where you will find information about how to register, what beaches will be cleaned, where to camp and other helpful trip planning ideas. If you want to support beach cleanup efforts but are unable to participate, you can donate funding to CoastSavers that will be used to keep Washington’s beaches clean. One dumpster costs approximately $1000 to rent and dispose of the trash once it’s filled. The Washington coast cleanups typically involve renting at least ten dumpsters for every event. Volunteers who aren’t physically able to carry filled bags off of the beach are welcome and can also participate by serving as a registration station beach captain, assisting with registering volunteers and ensuring they fill out the proper paperwork and following protocol.
CoastSavers Coordinator, Jon Schmidt explains, “There is a real need to keep debris off of our beaches; plastics are ingested by marine mammals and birds which leaves them malnourished and at risk of starvation.” Summer beach cleanups are often less productive than those in April following the winter storms, but there is still plenty of junk coming from up and down the coast, off of boats and blowing from the shore to the water. The level of consciousness about marine debris has been raised due to the March 2011 tsunami. According to NOAA’s Marine Debris program, “The Japanese government estimated that the tsunami swept about 5 million tons of debris into the ocean, but that 70 percent sank off shore, leaving 1.5 million tons floating.” It is difficult to link much of the debris on our shores to the Japan tsunami but that makes it no less important to remove. Participating in the International Coastal Cleanup is one way that you can contribute to addressing the global issue of marine debris.
