LIHUE — Kauai Surfrider and Kauai Sierra Club are joining forces to clean up Nukolii Beach starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. Surfrider will provide gloves, reusable burlap bags, tools and a form to fill out detailing your cleanup. Kauai Surfrider
LIHUE — Kauai Surfrider and Kauai Sierra Club are joining forces to clean up Nukolii Beach starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Surfrider will provide gloves, reusable burlap bags, tools and a form to fill out detailing your cleanup. Kauai Surfrider has been making a concerted effort to enlist volunteers to clean local beaches because when the debris is on the beach it is the opportunity to take it so it won’t wash back into the ocean.
Volunteers will be cataloging and indexing each piece of debris so a worldwide mapping of the debris problem can be created.
Last year, 561,895 volunteers in 91 countries picked up 16,186,759 pounds of marine debris and trash along 13,360 miles of coastline during International Coastal Cleanup Day, an effort of Ocean Conservancy.
One study showed that between 5 and 12 million tons (over 11 billion pounds) of plastics enter the ocean annually from land-based sources. It is also estimated that 90 percent of sea birds have ingested plastic. On Kauai, Surfrider is currently sponsoring a research project on dead Newell’s shearwaters to see what they have eaten.
Saturday’s cleanup targets Nukolii Beach, where wind, currents and waves bring in marine debris, derelict fishing gear like nets and ropes and Japanese tsunami debris.
Look for signs at Kauai Beach Resort where you will drive into the property, through their tree line and turn right on the dirt road where again there will be signs. Drive down to the beach. There will be coffee and granola bars.
Info: Barbara, 635-2593 or Scott, (816) 781-5663 and www.kauai.surfrider.org
