Curtis Cove Report - August 11, 2013

Sunday, August 11. 6:45 PM. Low tide still a couple hrs away, but wanted to get in for the last hour of sunlight after being away for two weeks again.

There had been some energy in the past two weeks. Along the back of the foreshore were groupings & clusters of large cobbles & pebbles. A few had even pushed up toward the berm.

There were also countless sandpiper tracks -- the migratory birds had begun their long treks toward winter grounds, still here in the height of summer.

Back down at the low foreshore, where the slope broke at the back of the live-algae line, that's where the debris collected again, as with July 27th's collection. Debris carried in by high-tide waves washes gently rolled down with outwash on each receding tide. Leaving a narrow ring/band of debris trapped where the slope quickly turns from steep to gentle.

On this day, the lobstering debris was exceptionally thick. It had even overspilled its narrow band, smearing far down into the cobbles and boulders in the low foreshore. Many could be found wherever there were nooks & hollows.

I tried, in the failing sun, to get every last bit that I could find. Probably a fool's errand. But it was why I was there after all.

Then the last of the sun's rays caught a lump of quartz, illuminating it from within.

It was just what I needed at the end of a rather depressing collection.

This was the haul:

18 pcs of rope, about 20 ft total

749 pcs of nonrope debris

767 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 18
• Fishing misc.: 650 (602 lobster trap vinyl scraps, 43 claw bands, 3 trap parts, 2 trap bumpers)
• Food-related plastics: 25 (23 cup scraps, bottlecap o-ring, straw)
• Food-related glass/metal: 2 (can scraps)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 14 (bag scrap, 4 glove scraps, glove, 3 plant stakes, 2 cable ties, eyeglass earpiece, 2 wall anchors)
• Scrap plastics: 54 ( 21 > 1" , 33 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 4 (fabric pieces)

Nonfood plastics:

 Food plastics:

 And, the piece de resistance, lobster trap vinyl scraps:

The new normal.

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 5997
• Pcs fishing rope -- 1780
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 2890