|
2010 GREAT CANADIAN
SHORELINE CLEANUP |
Last year
Burnaby squadron cleaned up the beach & area near
the mouth of Indian River. This year, from the list
compiled by the Vancouver Aquarium, we chose the
Indian Arm Marine Park Twin, Raccoon and Jug
Islands.
Site coordinator: Jack W.; Co-coordinator: Jenn M.
Group: Burnaby Power & Sail Squadron (of Canadian
Power & Sail Squadrons)
Organization: 45' Yacht "Bossy Lady"
(Gordon N.) anchored off Twin Islands with other
vessels Polaris (Mike & Jenn M.) and Meridian (Dave
H.) rafting up to it. This gave us a dry base of
operations for our garbage details. Gordon N.
maintained the coffee pot and provided a dry
lunchroom.
Palaran (Darcy & Val O'S. ) & Tanager
(Neal T. & Darlene W.) moored at Twin Islands wharf
where Val & Darcy SCUBA dived to clean up the area
under the wharf. Neal & Darlene hauled the stuff up
(two tugs was the signal). The stuff retrieved
was sorted it into keepers (a couple of crab traps,
returnable beverage cans) and garbage which ended up
in an official dumpster.
Bottles which were now homes to various sea-life
were not removed.
One abandoned
crab trap had several under sized Red Rock crabs,
which were released. Darcy & Val also towed their
12' Sorenson, which Jack used to ferry 6 "gleaners"
to Raccoon Island. Surprisingly we found almost
nothing except some long nails and a bolt from some
long gone wharf & a few wisps of poly rope. We then
boated the perimeter and only saw a discarded water
bottle high up the beach, but too difficult to get
to. On the way to Twin Is., Palaran circumnavigated
Jug Island, which really has no landing areas. We
saw nothing to pick up. It was at Twin Islands where
we got most of the garbage. Our most disheartening
find was a weighted Zip-lock bag containing expired
flares.
Apparently no
official way to dispose of expired flares.
Developing and implementing a annual strategy to
dispose of old flares could be one goal of the Great
Canadian Shoreline clean up. Possible
solutions could include advertised "Flare-Offs" at
designated and supervised locations. |
