On Sunday, September 29 volunteers from across the watershed gathered at the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge for the annual cleanup around the Great Bay.
This year the group crossed over a salt marsh creek to clean Welch Cove. Although occasionally cleaned by kayak cleanups with the Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper, the cove still collects a lot of debris floating around in the estuary.
Debris ranged in size from large tires embedded in marsh, barrels, large pieces of foam, wood, and fishing gear to the smaller items like bottle caps, straws, forks, balls, and bags.
Most notably there were areas of the salt marsh covered in small pieces of plastic, foam, wrappers, and bottle caps like the items pictured below.
Volunteers spent time combing through grasses to remove these items that are often mistaken for food by important wildlife. In total volunteers removed 1,200 pounds of debris!! Below are a few of the top items collected.
The data collected during this cleanup and others as part of the NH Coastal Cleanup will be incorporated into the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup dataset and published in a report early next year. Check out the 2018 report to see what items were collected around the world. (report)
If you missed this year's cleanup, have no fear. There are lots of cleanups scheduled year round. Check out the organizations below for details.
Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge hosts cleanups along the Great Bay Estuary periodically throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation hosts monthly cleanups and will schedule group events with 10+ volunteers. Great for church groups, scouts, schools, and families.
Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper hosts a kayak cleanup around the Great Bay Estuary annually.
Nature Groupie spreads the word about nature volunteer opportunities around New England - including cleanups!
PREP would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the volunteers who joined us and to the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge for being our gracious hosts on the refuge. See you next year!