By Sarah Friday 



One person. 

 One Styrofoam cup. 

 One ocean. 



Nobody will ever know. 

 Want to bet? 



The U.S. Coast Guard estimates recrea- 

 tional boaters generate about 34,000 metric 

 tons of garbage per day. 



Add to that milhons of tons of daily debris 

 from beachgoers, fishermen and offshore 

 vessels. 



The rubbish piles up, snagging, tangling 

 and killing wildlife. But piece by piece it 

 fuels the fire of worldwide efforts to clean up 

 the problem of marine debris. 



The efforts range from posters printed to 

 educate the public to massive beach clean- 

 ups in Texas. With all of them, the goal is the 

 same — to save marine mammals. 



The campaign has been smoldering for 

 about 10 years. Successes exist, but environ- 

 mentalists agree only the first rounds of their 

 fight have been completed. 



The thrust of their game plan now is 

 education. 



"People don't realize what they're doing 

 when they throw things overboard," says 

 environmentalist Jim Murphy of Southern 

 Shores. They don't correlate plastic bags with 

 turtle food or cigarette filters with hungry 

 birds. 



Education can change this. 

 "I think that once people realize the conse- 

 quences of their actions, if nothing else, their 

 consciences won't let them do it," says Ginny 

 Goblirsch of the Oregon Sea Grant Extension 

 Service. "It's a matter of changing their 

 habits." 



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