Mark your calendars for Alabama Coastal Cleanup

By Curt Chapman
Staff Writer

Posted 9/15/08

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Mark your calendars for Alabama Coastal Cleanup

Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 6:00 am

By Curt Chapman
Staff Writer

This might be the year the one millionth pound of debris is picked up during the 2008 Alabama Coastal Cleanup, planned for Saturday, Sept. 20, from 8 a.m. until noon, with 26 cleanup zones organized in Baldwin and Mobile counties. An estimated 3,000 volunteers will spread out along Gulf Coast beaches and waterways to pick up what others so carelessly threw away.

Amy King, natural resources planner for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources State Lands Division-Coastal Section, said the 21st annual event will give folks an opportunity to help contribute to the protection of our waterways and shoreline, as well as learn what can be done to change the behavior of those who litter.

“We are living here on the coast, and almost everything we do has an impact on the water,” King said. “Any sort of debris or trash under water affects water quality.”

The list of items found during Coastal Cleanup each year is seemingly endless. Among the debris most found on Alabama shores are cigarette butts, cigarette lighters, cigar tips, glass and plastic beverage bottles, aluminum cans, bags, straws, building materials, food wrappers/containers and plates.

Some of the other things found include more disturbing items such as condoms, tampons and applicators, syringes, oil bottles, batteries, and discarded or abandoned fishing tackle, nets and lines.

King said, “Many discarded items leach chemicals into the water, and can cause a larger impact. It includes habitat destruction, which affects commercial and recreational fishing.”

Some debris even entangles marine fish and mammals, along with shorebirds, she pointed out.

“Even when you think you’re not close to a water source, rainwater will pick up debris and take it through the drainage system and to the bay and Gulf,” King said. “Behaviors are changing through education, but some people are still going to throw (trash) out the window.”

She noted the effect is cumulative, and the evidence comes to light each year when the final debris tally is released.

Alabama Coastal Cleanup began in 1987 with two zones — Dauphin Island and Gulf State Park. It is part of the International Coastal Cleanup sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy. Over 80 countries participate in the ICC worldwide on the same day.

The event is not limited to the beach. It includes bays, bayous, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds.

More than 51,000 Alabama volunteers have so far collected 951,987 pounds of debris from 3,041 miles of coastline over the past two decades. Data cards are used each year to catalog what is recovered in order to help educate the public, business, industry and government officials about the marine debris problem.

The effort is sponsored locally by Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources State Lands Division-Coastal Section, Alabama People Against a Littered State, Baldwin County Commission, Bebo’s, ExxonMobil, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, Alabama Department of Transportation, ALFA, Baldwin EMC, Bay Title Insurance, The Original Oyster House and Vulcan Materials.

To take part in the Alabama Coastal Cleanup, call (251) 621-1216 or visit www.alabamacoastalcleanup.com.

Baldwin County Zones/Captains:

Barrineau Park

Mark Langner (251) 621-0970

mark.langner@swcgroup.org

Check-in: Barrineau Park Road

Boggy Point

Bob Hastings (251) 981-6824

bob.hastings@dcnr.alabama.gov

Check-in: Call for directions

Daphne

Priscilla Dabney (251) 626-3285