TURNING THE TIDES AND

THE INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP

Sitka has joined hundreds of coastal communities that are committed to riding our oceans of human caused garbage and diminish the threat it causes to marine life. For the past two years, community members have participated in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) with help from Turning the Tides Sitka, the Sitka Sound Science Center, the Sitka Global Warming Group, the Sitka Conservation Society, Allen Marine Tours, the U.S. National Park Service, Stragiers Sanitation, and Seamart. The ICC, which occurs worldwide on a designated day in September, recruits volunteers from coastal communities to remove marine debris from beaches and underwater areas. Sitka’s participants have included students enrolled in Ms. Goldents’ eighth grade marine biology class and Ms. Dick’s and Mr. Henshaw’s sixth grade science classes. Volunteers document what kind of debris they find, what the most likely source of the debris is from, and the amount of each type of debris. This information is compiled by the Ocean Conservancy’s Anchorage office, and is included with data that is collected worldwide in the yearly publication “A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris” available online at www.oceanconservancy.org.

This year, we hope to kick off the International Coastal Cleanup with a bottle raft race at the University of Alaska Southeast boat ramp. The race will be open to participants between 10 years of age and adult, and the goal is to build a raft from recyclable plastic bottles that will hold up to three people. The Sitka Sound Science Center was also awarded the NOAA Challenge Grant, which will fund a project to assess the impacts of derelict fishing gear in Eastern Channel. Stay tuned!

When we canvassed our ICC participants for whale photos for this website, we found out that everyone was too excited that day to get clear photos. Please believe us when we tell you that Humpback whales came right up next to the boat; as well as saw harbor porpoises and rafts of sea otters.

Volunteers from the 2008 ICC pose for the camera on Kamenoi Point Beach. A big thanks to Allen Marine Tours for ferrying our participants.

Volunteers at Kamenoi Point conducted sweeps starting at the water line all the way to the tree line.

Most of the marine debris can be found along the high tide line buried under the driftwood.

Debris can be difficult to spot from a distance, but is almost always present.

Volunteers carefully scoured the beach up to and beyond the treeline for marine debris. Each item was carefully documented on cards provided by the Ocean Conservancy.

Allen Marine Tours dedicates their staff, resources, and vessel time to the effort. Their boats are the ideal platform for the International Coastal Cleanup. Thank you Allen Marine Tours!

Sitka’s ICC includes an underwater cleanup that is open to all certified divers. Many bicycles lay on the harbor bottom; during our survey we counted one bicycle for every ten feet of harbor bottom.

Shopping carts also litter the harbor bottom.

Troy mugs for the camera.

Bob assesses the items for attaching the lift bags.

The dive team has special training in using lift bags to retrieve heavy objects from the bottom of the ocean. One of the most important principles is to attain neutral buoyancy in order to reposition the objects before sending them to the surface.

We don't think that the anemones are to blame for the beer cans that litter the harbor bottom. A big thanks goes out to Sitka’s dive community and to the Sitka Fire Department’s Underwater Emergency Response Team for their commitment and use of their lift gear.