Collection Report - Dec 8, 2013

Sunday December 8. 10:00AM An hour after low tide. 27-28 degrees. Overcast, thin clouds. Three weeks since my last visit. Dull, dull, dull weeks, except for one windstorm the previous week.

Seeing an even, gradual slope from the back of the backshore down, down, to the waterline. Fresh-ish wrack had come in during the ensuing weeks.

There was a huge mound of pebbles at back of foreshore -- almost a dune, most likely washed up by the windstorm.

Interestingly, there was still some seaweed tenaciously clinging to rocks and to life down on the low foreshore.

Another indicator of the dull & mild weather Maine had been getting to now. Snowstorms in DC, Missouri, freezes in deep South. But fragile life persisting on a Maine beach!

Curiously, there was still lobster trap vinyl washing in & staying, even with the previous week's storms.

These little flecks get sucked back out to sea very easily with any wave energy. Their presence is another indicator of calm weather.

On the other hand, heavier stuff did wash in as well. Lots of small chunks of lobster trap still with iron inside. And this 30-40-year-old aluminum can top:

So, waves strong enough to dislodge and dredge up an ancient piece of metal, but gentle enough to leave vinyl scraps behind. Strong enough to shape pebbles into dunes, but not strong enough to bring trap vents, bait bags, and other floatables over the rocks at the head of the cove.

An odd day.

14 pcs of rope, about 25 ft total

112 pcs of nonrope debris

126 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 1 (cup scrap, washed in)
• Fishing rope/net: 14 (25 ft)
• Fishing misc.: 90 (70 vinyl trap coating scraps, 12 metal trap parts, 7 claw bands, fishing line)
• Food-related plastics: 3 (cup scrap, intact but abraded knife, fork scrap)
• Food-related glass/metal: 5 (2 new local cans, 2 sea glass, old pulltab-era can top)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 2 (cord, tape)
• Scrap plastics: 11 ( 6 > 1" , 5 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 0

A quiet day by recent standards. But an odd one. What all did I miss during the weeks I was kept away from the beach? Who knows...

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 11061
• Total from fishing -- 9695 (87.7%)
• Pcs fishing rope -- 1944
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 6982

Collection Report - October 23, 2013

Wednesday, October 23. 8:30. Cold, about 40 degrees but still no freeze. Low, bright sun. The road was blocked with roadwork, so I walked in from first horseshoe coves just north of Curtis Cove. Being low tide, it was interesting to see the huge rip-rap wall here up close. 15 feet high, full of tumbled granite debris trying to hold back the sea & protect the causeway.

The ocean comes all the way up to this wall even on the weakest of high-tide here now. Left natural, the causeway & the one or two homes behind it would have been gone long long ago. Timber Point would be an island. The cost of maintaining the status quo will only increase as seas keep rising.

On to the main beach. Rounding the rocks I was greeted by three lovely sights: a long-beached piece of driftwood illuminated by the low sun:

More deer tracks high on the backshore:

And beautiful fall colors ringing the back of the cove:

Curtis Cove is a special place.

Down on the beach proper, by now the low foreshore was almost dead -- algae almost all gone with the passing of summer. But a huge amount of ripped-up kelp was strewn now across the back of the foreshore, mixing and churning with the old mounds of pebbles.

This is another sign of autumn energy. Even though weather has been kind this past week, the ocean is starting to grow more restless.

Curiously, this mass of large kelp was largely devoid of plastics. As usual, the heaviest spread of debris was at a smear of pulverized seaweed that lay in front of this mass. In this case most everything I found lay in about a 20x30 area of the whole beach (plus some very old small bits of rope uncovered at the backshore by shifting sands).

Here's what turned up:

19 pcs of rope, about 10 ft total

203 pcs of nonrope debris

222 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 19
• Fishing misc.: 171 (163 vinyl lobster trap scraps, trap part, 7 claw bands)
• Food-related plastics: 8 (5 cup scraps including full styrofoam cup, 2 food tub scraps, very abraded silverware handle)
• Food-related glass/metal: 0
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 6 (very abraded non-food bottlecap, cigarette, plant stake, 2 cords, cable tie)
• Scrap plastics: 17 ( 7 > 1" , 10 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 1 (seaglass)

Lobster vinyl debris yet again wins the day.

With it same various old & very abraded bits & bobs, which had obviously spent some years out in the ocean.

If we stop dumping plastics in the ocean tomorrow, our grandchildren will still be finding ours washing up. But maybe -- maybe -- their grandchildren would have clean shores again.

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 10490
• Total from fishing -- 9206 (87.8%)
• Pcs fishing rope -- 1921
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 6562

Curtis Cove Report - Mar 22, 2013

Friday, March 22. 12:50PM. 1/2 hr before low tide. Sunny, 37 degrees, light breeze off the ocean, calm water.

It had been a couple weeks since 3/9's visit. The low foreshore was still, well, very low and flat. Few cobbles & pebbles visible down by the water. Which suggests that there was still sand & stuff dragged/pulled from the backshore burying the underlying stones by the water's edge.

It had been a quiet week, light snows but no storms. A slow remolding was going on at the backshore. Waves pushed & stacked the wrack up into high cliff faces.

Look at all the bits of fishing rope dangling out from the side of the seaweed mountain! And there was a lot of pulverized wrack and coralline algae at the front of the "cliff" too.

I've learned that delicate, pulverized bits like this mean loads of lobster trap vinyl. And sure enough:

Overall an exceptionally busy & grueling day.

220 pcs of rope, about 200 ft total

531 pcs of nonrope debris

751 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 220
• Fishing misc.: 455 (405 vinyl trap scraps, 13 bait bags, 3 trap vents, 10 bumpers, trap tag, 18 claw bands, 2 bait tins, glove, 2 trap parts)
• Food-related plastics: 17 (12 cup scraps, bottlecap seal, wine cork seal, 2 food wrappers, straw)
• Food-related glass/metal: 6 (5 ripped aluminum can scraps, sea glass)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 11 (bag scrap, latex balloon scrap, plastic balloon string, CLOROX bottlecap, glove, plant ID stake, disposable plant-pot base, fabric, 2 cable ties, string)
• Scrap plastics: 37 ( 15 > 1" , 22 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 5 (fabric gloves/glove scraps)

The vinyl lobster trap bits are the standout, of course. But it was also a day heavy in scraps of red SOLO cups & the like:

And as an amusing side note, a lesson in how hard it is to quantify trash. Both of the pieces below count as -1- piece of lobster trap vinyl debris:

Yet the big chunk on the left (all just vinyl, the steel long-since rusted away from the inside!) would eventually break into hundreds of little flecks like that on the right.

So much trash.

Running YTD-2 counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 971
• Pcs fishing rope -- 390
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 405

Curtis Cove Report - Feb 26, 2013

February 26, 2013. 2:00PM, a couple hours before low tide. My last cleanup of Year 1 at Curtis Cove! Bright sun, 40 degrees. Rough sea, but little wind.

The big breakers out on the outcrops at the head of the cove = soggy & sloppy sand & mud & wrack smeared up and down the shore. A real mess of a beach!

But the first hopeful signs of spring behind the backshore. As I had a big group of witnesses to my efforts this day:

The scooped-out sand and wave-dragged wrack from the backshore spoke of the power of the past week's seas.

And of course stormy days bring lots of plastic "gifts." Including ones that have no business on a beach. A soda/water bottle I could understand. But a honey-bear jug??

Even better, this week brought the remains of a plasticized menu from a Kennebunkport restaurant. From 2007!

We place restaurants right next to Maine's windy coast, and populate them with plastic plates, cups, bottles, ketchup packets, sauce tubs, salt & pepper shakers, forks & knives -- and now even menus. And we wonder why our ocean looks like it does.

So, surprising no one, a very busy day.

236 pcs of rope, about 550 ft total

110 pcs of nonrope debris

346 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 236 (about 550 feet)
• Fishing misc.: 34 (19 bait bags, 3 vents, 2 trap tags, 8 vinyl coating scraps, bumper, clawband)
• Food-related plastics: 23 (3 bottlecap seals, 16 cup scraps, drink wrapper, ketchup pack, honeybear jug, 2007 menu!)
• Food-related glass/metal: 5 (2 whole/new cans, 3 can scraps)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 31 (11 bag scraps, 2 mylar balloon scraps, 2 latex balloons, 3 balloon strings, thread spool, tampon applicator, toy shovel handle, pressure-treatment tag from 1988, 5 cable ties, EXIT (?) sign scrap, 2 end caps, plunger scrap)
• Scrap plastics: 13 ( 9 > 1" , 4 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 4 (2 gloves, 2 fabric pieces)

Yet again, fishing debris far & away took the gold this week. Stormy weather & choppy seas tends to fling floatable plastics up and over the outcrops at the cove's head, which is what happened here with the vents, bait bags, and trap tags.

The waves also brought weirdness. The honeybear, the 2007 menu. And this 25-year-old tag from a piece of pressure-treated lumber. Looking brand new!

Tampon applicators were a scourage for me at Bay View beach in Saco. Not many here at Curtis Cove, thankfully. But the cove isn't immune:

And, as always, the poignant bits of seabottom plastics with fish/crustacean bites & pokemarks all through them:

A heck of a thing we do to our world.

Year One Total counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 13854
• Pcs fishing rope -- 4011 (~6600 feet)
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 5245

Curtis Cove Report - Feb 12, 2013

After another wintery week off following January 20's visit, back again to the beach. This time also after so-called "Superstorm Nemo" blanketed New England! But even though inland the drifts were 3-4 feet high, at the cove, the blizzard's gale-force winds blew sea into shore and blew the snow clear away.

On the other side of the causeway behind the cove, the blizzard's lingering effects still held sway. The Little River Marsh was an ice-blocked and wintery wonderland.

No surprise for how much garbage the blizzard washed up onto the shore.

lobster trap bait bag

balloons, always balloons

And the best sign of the storm's force:

New, but mauled

210 pcs of rope, about 280 ft total

131 pcs of nonrope debris

342 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 1 (folding aluminum deck chair)
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 210
• Fishing misc.: 40 (2 fishing line, 2 clawbands, 13 bait bags, 5 trap parts, 3 trap vents, 2 bumpers, 13 vinyl scraps)
• Food-related plastics: 19 (3 bottles (2 badly torn), 13 cup scraps, 2 wrappers, bread tag)
• Food-related glass/metal: 2 (can base, sea glass)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 42 (13 bag scraps, 5 latex balloons, 2 mylar, 6 balloon strings, 5 packaging scraps, 4 cable ties, rocket base, scrub pad, pressure treatment tag, flower, fish-tag tie, sock tree, vinyl upholstery scrap)
• Scrap plastics: 10 ( 4 > 1" , 6 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 18 (8 gloves, 8 fabric scraps, sock, leather strap)

The worst part is that nearly every week there's debris that's clearly been eaten/clawed by denizens of the deep. Such as this ketchup pack:

and this fast-food coffee cup lid:

It's not just ugly. It's deadly.

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 12965
• Pcs fishing rope -- 3699
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 4827

Curtis Cove Report - Jan 11, 2013

Friday January 11, 12:55 PM, ~2 hrs before low tide. Gray and windy. Two weeks since last visit; lots of the same plus a little change. The wrack from Dec. 24 was still there, now smeared up and down the backshore. No new goop in the mix. It seems the past two weeks had been relatively low energy, just a reshuffling of the deck.

With the old seaweed spread about, more of its plastic load lay now on the surface. And it was fearsome. There are at least 9 pieces of plastics in this square foot:

And of course, the ubiquitous balloons.

Launched from miles -- or hundreds of miles -- away, to end up here.

It was a depressing week for plastic garbage. But I did see something kind of fun:

This is a slipper shell (a kind of snall) upside-down attached to a small stone. A seagull was lifting and dropping this stone over & over, trying to shatter the shell against the cobbles of the low foreshore. Except, this week there were no cobbles on the foreshore! December's storm reshaped the beach, burying the low ground under soft, fine sand. The gull, clearly used to a rocky shoreface, was doing what he always did in order to break open a shell. And he was clearly confused why it wasn't working!

Ecology in action.

I'll be interested to see how long it is before the sand washes back away and the shore is "healed" to its more usual form. In the meantime, this was a busy week of collection, especially for rope.

232 pcs of rope, about 550 ft total

203 pcs of nonrope debris

435 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 232 (~550 ft)
• Fishing misc.: 90 (49 vinyls, 6 bumpers, 4 trap tags, 14 bait bags, 4 trap mesh, 2 parts, 2 vents, 7 clawbands, shotgun shell, buoy handle)
• Food-related plastics: 32 (3 bottles, 3 bottlecap rings, 9 cup scraps, 10 tops/scraps, salad dressing packet, 6 straws)
• Food-related glass/metal: 4 (4 can scraps)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 42 (13 bags/scraps, 2 mylar balloons, latex balloon, balloon string, golfball, 10 cords/cable ties, big wingnut, 5 upholstery scraps, 4 pcs tape, crate seal, pen cap, Victorinox knife handle, tubing)
• Scrap plastics: 27 ( 10 > 1" , 17 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 8 (5 fabric pieces, 3 gloves)

Just a mess. No other word for it. So much that could be discussed, but I'll point out just one bit. All of this food-related debris originated somewhere else:

Whether a fishing boat, pleasure boat, beach up the road, seaside in Nova Scotia, or city drain in Portland. All from somewhere else, and most of its spent a long time in the ocean. Note the marine-life bite/poke marks on things like this remnant of red Solo cup:

Or this blue cheese salad dressing packet:

When your life is packaged in plastic, it never really goes away.

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 12271
• Pcs fishing rope -- 3313
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 4742