Port of Edmonds Marina Clean-Up 2018
Summer is possibly the most fun time of the year. Think about it – all the sunshine makes you want to go to the beach, eat at restaurants on the waterfront, and go boating! I love summer for these opportunities and so much more. BUT you know what I don’t love? I don’t love all the garbage that is left behind on our shorelines and dumped (intentionally and unintentionally) into our local Puget Sound waters. Marine debris litters beaches all over the world, ending up in our oceans and contaminating and killing marine life (If you eat seafood, it’s contaminating you, too.). Additionally, garbage in our marine environment is just plain unappealing. How many of you actually want to see and smell garbage on the sand and in the water when you go to the beach? I bet your answer is something along the line of, “Nope, not me!”, and I don’t disagree.
These are only some of the reasons I participated in the Port of Edmonds’ Marina Clean-Up for its 70th Anniversary on August 4th, 2018. The clean-up was led by possibly one of the coolest women I know, Annie Crawley. Annie is an underwater photographer and videographer, ocean activist and speaker, author and producer. As if that isn’t enough, she also owns her own company and runs her own scuba diving camp. Like seriously, how cool is that?! She has dedicated her career to educating the public — spending much of her time and energy focusing on children — about marine issues so they can hopefully one day save the ocean.
I first met Annie about a year and a half ago while attending school at the University of Washington. She sat in on one of my classes for the whole quarter and shared some of her stories with us. Right away, I thought she was such an inspiration and the perfect example of someone who goes for her dreams. We connected, and then she was off on another grand adventure. I was so excited to see that she was running the clean-up in Edmonds because 1) I’m all about ocean/ beach clean-ups, 2) Edmonds is my hometown so I didn’t have to drive far (always a plus!), and 3) I was excited about the opportunity to see Annie again. It was too good an opportunity to pass up!
Annie and I before she got in the water to lead the clean-up.
Event coordinators told me that guest moorage had been cleaned in May 2018, but they had no idea when the rest of the marina had gotten the same attention. I was interested to see what was down there. The clean-up lasted about 6 hours, including the time the divers took to get their gear all set. YES, divers! This wasn’t just a walk on the beach to pick up trash. Annie had her dive-campers suit up and get in the water to scan the marina floor for garbage. They put smaller pieces in dive bags, and brought up larger pieces of debris separately. When pieces were brought to the surface, we (the shore support) hauled them onto the dock, rinsed off sand and any little critters back into the water, and put the debris in collection carts. Unfortunately, most of the debris was so encrusted with all sorts of sea-slime, barnacles, etc. that they weren’t able to be recycled. There was even some larger debris that had a whole bunch of marine invertebrates that we couldn’t pry off to save 🙁 such as barnacles, lichen, sand dollars, chitons, and sea anemones. That is the drawback to removing marine debris – after a certain amount of time passes, marine organisms make the debris the infrastructure for their new homes. I still think the benefits of marine debris removal out-way the drawbacks, but I still feel bad for the little guys we can’t save.
Divers adjusting their gear and getting ready to descend while shore support watch.
Gotta make sure the whole team is ready!
A My Edmonds News reporter interviewing Annie Crawley a couple of hours into the clean-up.
The three photos below show only a couple of the larger pieces that were brought up by the divers. There were all sorts of things down there including plastic garbage cans, a beach chair, glass and plastic bottles, long plastic and metal rods, signs from the marina, cell phones, etc. Some of these things can get lost easily and without intention, but others (like boat batteries) are not, and were most likely purposefully dumped.
A plastic garbage can (left) and some of its inhabitants (center). Encrusted beach chair (right).
All in all, I’m glad I got to be a part of this marine conservation effort. It may seem pointless, or even hopeless, sometimes to clean the environment, but know that you make a difference with every piece of trash you pick up and properly discard. Saving the oceans will be hopeless only when we stop believing we can save it.
I was lucky enough to get ahold of some photographs of the debris collected from the Port of Edmonds’ marina at the end of the clean-up. Look closely to see what all was recovered from the marina floor. I’m blown away by how much garbage littered such a small space in my community.
The photos below are courtesy of Raechel Romero, a recent addition to the Annie Crawley team. Thanks for sharing your photos, Raechel!
