On September 17th, the Coastal Society, URI Chapter, participated in the 31st annual International Coastal Cleanup. Eighteen URI students, from various departments, including Marine Affairs and Engineering, participated in this year’s coastal cleanup at Scarborough Beach State Park in Narragansett, RI. Students
collected over 1,700 items of marine debris including: 70 straws, 51 plastic bottles, 931 cigarette butts, and 104 pieces of styrofoam. To contribute to the Ocean Conservancy’s 2016 item-by-item, location-by-location Ocean Trash Index, collected marine debris was sorted into categories (i.e. plastic bottles, metal cans, straws, fishing gear, etc.) and counted.
Other coastal cleanups as part of International Coastal Cleanup throughout RI were conducted at Second Beach in Newport, Barrington Beach in Bristol County, and Bald Point in East Providence.
Pictures from the URI TCS’s clean up were featured on the Ocean Conservancy’s website (https://storify.com/etspencer/2016-international-coastal-cleanup)
TCS, URI chapter, sponsors Bass Rock Road Beach and typically conducts a beach cleanup once per semester. For more information about future beach cleanups, contact: thecoastalsocietyuri@gmail.com
