Ci f t deck 



Coast Guard 

 Launches Marine 

 Education Program 



Helping people learn ways to protect 

 the marine environment is the goal of the 

 U.S. Coast Guard's new nationwide pro- 

 gram for schools, fishermen, boaters, 

 industry and others. 



The program, Sea Partners, will pro- 

 vide speakers to local groups interested in 

 helping the Coast Guard protect our 

 oceans, sounds, rivers, lakes and streams 

 from pollution. The Coast Guard is the 

 lead agency designated to respond to pol- 

 lution in the coastal zone and speci- 

 fied ports on America's 

 Great Lakes and major 

 inland rivers. Specific 

 topics include: 



• Effects of plastic de- 

 bris and other solid waste, oil 

 and hazardous chemicals on 

 the marine environment. 



• How marine environmen- 

 tal protection laws and regula- 

 tions apply to various maritime 

 users. 



• Ways groups and individuals 

 can take action to protect the water- 

 ways in their area from pollution. 



Sea Partners is being imple- 

 mented by the Coast Guard Reserve. Pre- 

 sentations, which include slides, videos 

 and educational activities, are available 

 at no charge. For more information, write 

 Petty Officer Wayne Chapman, USCG 

 Marine Safety Office, 272 N. Front St., 

 Wilmington, NC 28401. Or call 910/343- 

 4895 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday 

 through Friday. 



Catch of the Day: 

 195 Tons of Trash 



More than 12,300 volunteers cleaned 

 almost 195 tons of debris from the state's 

 beaches, rivers and streams during First 

 Citizens Bank Big Sweep '94. 



Carteret County attracted the most 

 volunteers — 1,742 — and likewise col- 

 lected the most debris — 33,840 pounds. 

 County Coordinator Eric Matthews had 

 some volunteers who worked from dawn 

 to dusk on Big Sweep day, Saturday, 



Sept. 17, as they collected trash from 

 miles of county beach and estuarine 

 shoreline. 



Other counties with large volunteer 

 turnout included: Brunswick, 696; Dare, 

 526; Davidson, 420; Guilford, 910; New 

 Hanover, 792; Onslow, 448; and Wake, 

 728. 



In the mountains, 90 volunteers 

 took to their canoes to clean up the 

 New River, pulling 319 tires from 

 the river's banks and 

 shallows. i 



Statewide, 

 volunteers collected 

 1 ,708 tires, which would stretch 

 more than three-quarters of a mile if laid 

 end to end. The high incidence of tires 

 and appliances such as stoves, refrigera- 

 tors and dishwashers is probably a result 

 of tipping fees at county landfills, says 

 Susan Bartholomew, Big Sweep's ex- 

 ecutive director. Instead of paying the 

 fees to dispose of large items at the 

 landfill, some people dump them ille- 

 gally, occasionally at the water's edge. 



Across North Carolina, volunteers 

 removed enough discarded appliances to 

 outfit a dozen kitchens, toilets for 

 two dozen bathrooms and furniture for 

 a half-dozen bedrooms and family 

 rooms. Add the 2,000 pieces of lumber 

 collected in Rutherford County to a load 

 of drywall picked up in Moore County, 

 and Big Sweep volunteers had the be- 

 ginnings for a modest-sized house. 



Unusual finds included a bag of 

 undelivered mail in Forsyth County, a 



buried car in Cumberland County, 35 

 shopping carts in Alamance County, an 

 Easter egg with a dollar bill in Union 

 County and pieces of a moonshine still 

 in Stanly County. 



Unfortunately, cleanup volunteers 

 also discovered two dead, entangled 

 animals. In New Hanover County, a 

 dead pelican was ensnared in fishing 

 line; in Hyde County, an otter skeleton 

 was trapped in a discarded fishing net. 

 "These kinds of discoveries are 

 the very reason why we began Big 

 Sweep eight years ago," says Lundie 

 Spence, N.C. Sea Grant's marine 

 education specialist and one of the 

 founders of Big Sweep. "Animal 

 entanglement and debris inges- 

 tion by animals are two of the 

 major negative impacts of 

 aquatic litter." 



And lessening these im- 

 pacts is exactly why 

 volunteers give four hours 

 of their weekend time 

 annually to this cleanup 

 event, says Lois Nixon, the 

 Wake County Keep America Beautiful 

 director and president of the Big Sweep 

 Board of Directors. 



"People want a cleaner, safer envi- 

 ronment for themselves and for the 

 wildlife that lives and feeds along our 

 shorelines," Nixon says. 



When all the volunteers were 

 counted and the litter weighed, 

 Bartholomew saw two trends in this 

 year's cleanup. Volunteer participation 

 increased despite rains that washed out 

 some mountain cleanups and reduced 

 turnout at western Piedmont locations. 

 And the tonnage of the debris collected 

 dropped for the second consecutive 

 year. 



"Coordinators told me that sites 

 that had been picked up during previous 

 years were definitely cleaner," 

 Bartholomew says. "We believe our 

 anti-litter message and educational 

 efforts are having some impact. 



"But that doesn't mean our job is 

 done," she says. "We still collected 195 

 tons of trash, and that means there are 



24 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1994 



