Snapshots Keeping Beaches Clean

SE North Carolina Snapshot

Leave only footprints on your beach trip

fter every major “beach holiday,” our local beaches are left looking more like a trash dump than pristine vacation spots. It never fails. After Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, beaches from Ocracoke Island to Sunset Beach are littered with cigarette butts, discarded beach chairs and toys, plastic bags, plastic drinking straws, food containers and so much more.

In fact, after July 4, 2020, even the roped-off sea turtle nests weren’t safe from the human encroachment. Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project president/volunteer coordinator Nancy Fahey shared numerous photos that showed that the nests, protected by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and a team of local volunteers, had all been tampered with during the holiday weekend.

It’s not just sea turtle eggs that can be harmed by pollution. Plastic grocery bags floating in the ocean look a lot like sea turtles’ favorite oceanic treat, the jellyfish. Numerous turtles who have mistaken plastic bags for food have ended up at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in Surf City.

Birds — both marine and landbased — can also get tangled up in numerous plastic items, like six-pack rings.

Te N.C. Coastal Federation states on its website: “Marine debris, or litter that has made its way into and around coastal waterways, is dangerous to fish, birds, wildlife and people. Te vast amount of trash results from storms, accidents or simple

Acarelessness. Debris can result from lost fishing gear, damage to structures caused by storms, abandoned or lost vessels, accidental or intentional spills and from people who toss away or lose their trash in waterways.” Organized beach clean-ups are held throughout the year, but you can also do your own part while on North Carolina’s beaches. Te EPA offers the following tips to help curb beach pollution: • Dispose of trash properly in waste and recycling receptacles. • Bring an extra bag with you so that you can bring your trash home if receptacles are not available. • If your children use diapers, be sure to dispose of them properly in a receptacle. • If you are fishing at the beach, be sure to collect and dispose of any broken or used fishing line. • At home, remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle to minimize wastes and prevent trash and litter from ending up in the ocean. • Reduce, reuse, and recycle the things you take to the beach. Pack food and beverages in reusable containers whenever possible. Tis helps minimize the amount of trash that is brought to the beach and reduces the potential for it to end up in the ocean. Te best way to keep our beaches open for future generations to enjoy is to keep them clean now, so that we don’t have to do massive clean-ups later. Te best advice? Leave only your footprints behind when you leave the beach for the day.

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FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: The effects litter can take on a beach; sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, their favorite food; a seahorse is shown with a cotton swab in this National Geographic photo. A sculpture on display in the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in Surf City was made entirely from litter picked up on Topsail Island beaches.

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