Center for Coastal Studies will host a COASTSWEEP Cleanup at Long Point in Provincetown on Saturday, Sept. 21st.
Volunteers are sought. We will leave MacMillian Pier at 10 am and return at 12:30 pm. Flyer’s shuttle service will bring participants to and from the beach. Please bring gloves and water. The number of volunteers is limited to 40. To register, please click here.
Since 1987, volunteers throughout Massachusetts have turned out for the annual COASTSWEEP cleanup organized by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). Each year, form late August into November, thousands of volunteers collect literally tons of trash from beaches, marshes, river banks and the seafloor.
COASTSWEEP participants join hundreds of thousands of other volunteers in the world’s largest volunteer effort for the ocean—Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup—collecting trash, fishing line and other marine debris and recording data on what they find. This data is used to find solutions for keeping trash out of the ocean.
Sources of marine debris include people littering, trash blowing out of trash cans and cigarette butts washing into storm drains that connect to the ocean. Marine debris is more than an eyesore, it can also directly harm sea life and humans. Sea birds, seals and other animals can be choked, starved or poisoned when they mistake debris for food, and wildlife can become entangled in nets, bags, ropes and other trash. Beachgoers may injure themselves on pieces of glass, wood or metal while swimming or walking on the sand. Debris also poses a threat to navigation—propellers can become jammed with fishing line, boats can be damaged by colliding with large pieces of debris and plastic can clog cooling intakes. Because much of the trash collected each year comes from street litter, it is easily preventable by always using secure trash bins and recycling as much as possible.
Related Topics
Marine Debris and Plastics Program
Marine Debris and Plastics in the News
Field Guide to Marine Debris in the Gulf og Maine