Collection Report March 9-10, 2011

March 9, 9:20AM. Sunny, not warm. But the bitterness of deep winter was breaking. The ice packs were quickly melting back, revealing the high backshore once again.

Impending spring

And, like in February, the beach was utterly scoured. Nothing washed in -- organic or otherwise. I wondered why. I also paused to enjoy the beautiful scene.

Tiger-eye maple?
No, just low tide artistry

Then, amid this clean-slate beach, I noticed:

9488 0402 ME 01 EEZ

An entire trap washes in, but almost no smaller flotsam? Why?

This one actually isn't too hard. You see, the surface of the ocean -- where plastic things float -- is NOT the whole ocean. On the surface, northerly or westerly winds can push the upper layer of water out to the open sea. (Surrounding seawater then rushes in to fill the void.) Meanwhile, on the sea floor, currents and tides can be dragging heavy objects like lobster traps the exact opposite direction. A few feet at a time, for years & years. Check out the Gulf of Maine Observing System's website. On some buoys, you can see real-time readings of current direction & speed from the surface all the way to 250 meters down! Sometimes they align; sometimes they're vastly different worlds.

Anyway, intrigued, I decided to carve some follow-up time the next day. Welcome back to Bay View, March 10, 9:00AM. Low tide, and winds had been from the east all night, strong & blustery. Was this a flotsam-maker?? Well...

Yes and no

Wow. That's new. A whole slew of cat-tail reeds washed in overnight. I've never seen any wash in before. There are no cat-tails at Bay View, or within sight of it. But two marshes do empty into Saco Bay from the north: Goosefare Brook a mile away; Scarborough Marsh about 4.5 miles. Dead reeds from one (or both) seem to have entered the bay and drifted south overnight. The easterly winds then blew them up onto the beach.

So. What would that mean for other flotsam? Still almost nothing! No kelp, seaweed, or plastic. Really intrigued, I made one more check at the afternoon high-tide. Welcome back, yet again, March 10, 3:00PM:

Energy

The wind remained strong from the east all day. The sea was a shaving-cream froth. I spent a half-hour mesmerized, just watching each wave splash in, the foam blowing away. Still no flotsam. The morning's reeds had been kicked up onto the backshore, and a big chunk of driftwood rolled in, but little else.

Seen better days

How little? Here's Zone N, after 3 visits in 2 days:

28 finds:

• Building materials: 1 (asphalt chunk)
• Foam/Styrofoam: 1 (bit of styrofoam)
• Fishing misc.: 4 (2 rope scraps, claw band, lobster trap coating)
• Food-related plastics: 3 (corner tag, 2 bottlecap o-rings)
• Food-related metal/glass: 5 (Twisted Tea bottle, can scrap, 3 bits of sea glass)
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 11 (inc. tub-surround scrap?, o-ring, Wal-Mart bag, half a pair of goggles, tampon applicator & its accompanying package, latex glove scrap?, upholstery scrap)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 1
• Paper/wood: 2 (tissue, stick from small firework)
• Misc./unique: 0

A remarkably low count. Some, like the bottle, clearly a recent local drop.

And what about Zone S?

16 finds:

• Building materials: 2 (asphalt, fence slat)
• Foam/Styrofoam: 1 (styrofoam bit)
• Fishing misc.: 4 (2 rope scraps, shotgun shell, clawband)
• Food-related plastics: 0
• Food-related metal/glass: 1 (can scrap)
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 7 (including bandaid, thin pipette, wristband)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 1
• Paper/wood: 0
• Misc./unique: 0

Again, next to nothing. See the claw band wrapped around the bit of driftwood? I find them a lot like that. Usually remove the wood, but wanted to show it this time. Mostly because it's about the only thing of interest that washed up this week.

So. Roiled seas, a lot of beachcombing, easterly winds. And almost no flotsam. It's not like Saco Bay has been magically freed from all its debris. Reeds -- and a large, rotten log -- floated in from somewhere to the north. But not kelp, or seaweed, or plastic debris. A week before, 212 bits of junk washed in. This week, a fifth of that, even with a day of helpful winds.

With Weather Underground & NERACOOS's excellent archives, I might be able to make some sense of it. Til then, nothing to do but enjoy the mystery & wonder of the sea. And however many strolls along a clean beach I can get.

Collection Report Sept 18-19, 2010

After a week hiatus, Saturday September 18 saw me back at Bay View beach, my journalist friend Rick with me. We got there about 9AM, and spent close to three hours wandering, collecting, and chatting through Zone N. Try imagining this picture in July or August:

View of Zone N at 11:00AM; summer is definitely over

Other than one sunbather (who had abandoned Kennebunkport's beaches due to the dog waste), we had the place almost all to ourselves. It was a great walk, and a great talk. And, strangely, really nice to be bagging debris again. Even the ugly and the stinky:

Post-season revelries

Chum-laced fishing net

In a turn that will surprise nobody, the cooler weather and end of summer vacation brought a change in the haul from weeks past. Zone N, laid out:

219 finds:

• Building material: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 8
• Fishing misc.: 6 (3 claw bands, 1 piece of lobster trap bumper, flare shell, plus large netting with rotted chum -- tossed out at beach, not brought home!)
• Food-related plastics: 14 (inc. bottle with lid sawn off??)
• Food-related metal/glass: 14
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 29 (inc. shopping bag & bag bits, bucket handle broken in two, rotted structural plastic chunk/end cap (?), nylon rope, small red rosette, multi-pin computer board piece (?), white leaf (matched one found September 4), claw-shaped thing like many found before)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 129 (122 local, 4 likely floaters, 3 plastics)
• Paper/wood: 16 (inc. kite instructions)
• Misc./unique: 3 (2 bits of firework and gum)

The food and beach plastics are way down. Sadly, the cigarette count -- and non-food plastics -- are just as high.

As always, there were surprises, plus a couple poignant moments.

Do I want to know why this was modified?

Irony

More irony

The next morning, I finally made a return to Zone S. I hadn't done a collection there for a few weeks (busy weeks at that, with a windstorm and a hurricane near-miss!). So it's hard to say much about the numbers here. But at least this will give me a new "autumn" baseline.

The goods:

104 finds:

• Building material: 2
• Foam/styrofoam: 6
• Fishing misc.: 4 (3 claw bands, 1 piece of lobster trap bumper)
• Food-related plastics: 11 (inc. Dairy Queen sundae cup and spoon, Slim Jim, Laffy Taffy, Wrigley Spearmint, GoGurt Strawberry Splash, Stringsters String Cheese)
• Food-related metal/glass: 2 (inc. aluminum can with spongy mass (fish eggs??) growing all over it)
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 16 (VO5 Tea Therapy label, shampoo top, hard red lens/cap edge, small green cap from a mist bottle (?), bubblewrap with tape, orange toy chain (?) scrap, scrap of rigid gray wire sheath)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 58 (35 local, 23 likely floaters)
• Paper/wood: 3
• Misc./unique: 2 (faded & tattered flag, tennis ball)

The biggie of this? 23 "floater" cigarettes -- the paper stripped away, the filter mesh bleached white. After everything I've learned about the sheer scale of cigarette trash, it's not surprising. But it's still a wake-up to see it. How many more are polluting our waters right now? How many more are being added every day?

Here's a few of the other highlights from my return to Zone S.

Expecting a winter full of these

A long and tortured tale

Mmm. Life...

Colorful "Huh??"s

So, as Maine transitions from beach weather to decidedly -not- beach weather, the finds are shifting. I'm all set to watch, record, and catalog it. And, as always, try to learn a thing or two.

After the Earl

My last report followed a windy rainshower, and the flotsam was amazing. My September 4th collection followed what could have been a monster. So it's with no small relief that former Category 4 Hurricane Earl (a) lost its gusto, (b) tracked far out into the Atlantic, and (c) passed Maine's coast at low tide.

The morning after revealed a beach looking little different from the week before. Well, with one exception.

Hmm, something's missing...

Dismantling & removing the lifeguard station ahead of Labor Day = respecting Mother Nature. Still, at first it seemed Earl barely registered on Bay View beach. Heck, it didn't even toss about the previous week's abandoned kelp forest.

So I began my collection for the day. And then a funny thing happened. Halfway through, I started seeing something odd.

A weird, pulverized, fiber-y mass started washing in as the tide rose. In all the months I've beachcombed I'd never seen anything like it. It seems Earl had indeed left a parting gift, an organic "carpet" washing up on my shore. Except it wasn't just organics.

Claw band

Over and over, the waves brought bits of floating trash right up to my feet. First a claw band, then a piece of foam. It was astounding.

Another claw band

Another claw band, a gnarled piece of green plastic, a burned piece of wood, a cigarette butt, a bright yellow shard of hard plastic.

Bit of green plastic scrap

For months now I've arrived at the beach "after the fact." My feet reach the sand, and what's happening has already mostly happened. And I have to make educated guesses about where the junk has come from. But to actually see it arrive -- to watch the ocean depositing bits of man-made debris with each wave -- was sobering. And a gift. It made it real. Garbage patches, persistent trash, plastic in seabirds... it's not some farce or fantasy. It's out there, and it washes in with each storm. Even if said storm blessedly spares your home in other, more direct ways.

I only wish I'd had more time to spend at the beach that morning. Who knows how much else I'd have found.

Tidal "carpet" by the time I had to leave

As it was, I already left with a full, and heavy, bag -- and heart. The full collection report is still forthcoming. But I'll close this post with a teaser:

This was no small haul

Collection Report July 27-28, 2010

Another hot, sultry week...

And another change to the vista...

By serendipity this sign was placed near the southern end of my Zone N; it seems I picked my zones well. (Not that it stopped early risers from roosting on the far side, down in Zone S. By the time I actually reached Zone S, 8:30 or so, it was hopping and I decided to save it for the next day.)

It all seems so clean, doesn't it?

Zone N this week was a varied haul, with a bunch of eye-catchers.

173 finds:

• Building materials: 8 (inc. asphalt chunks, a bit of roofing, and some lathe)
• Foam/Styrofoam: 10 (inc. piece of model airplane wing, as well as tiny flecks off of a coffeecup)
• Fishing misc.: 4 (1 rope, 1 fishing line, 1 claw band, and 1 one-inch piece of degraded vinyl coating from a lobster trap)
• Food-related plastics: 28 (inc. the little label off a Macintosh apple)
• Food-related metal/glass: 8 (inc. the first new piece of rotten aluminum can scrap in several weeks)
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 20 (inc. radio (?) battery cover, shovel handle, scrap of ribbed rubberized thing, another chunk of the hard white plastic thing I found last week in zones N and S, scuffed & faded rim of orange bowl or pail)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 68 (64 local + 4 possible floaters)
• Paper/wood: 26 (inc. a fun scribbling, a couple receipts, half-burned Bud Light packaging, and a tag from a beach towel)
• Misc./unique: 11 (inc. burnt pair of glasses, piece of cut felt, 2 bits of sea glass)

A smaller haul by recent standards, even with a couple fresh bonfires. But probably the most interesting spread of beach archaeology yet. A few that strike me...

Really want to decipher this

Thinking there's a story here

Deconstructed coffee cup

Moving on to Zone S the following morning.

42 finds:

• Building materials: 2
• Foam/Styrofoam: 1
• Fishing misc.: 1 (2" piece of lobster trap coating)
• Food-related plastics: 10 (inc. the label from a fresh nectarine)
• Food-related metal/glass: 8
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 9 (inc. part of a badly degraded bowl)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 10 (8 local + 2 possible floaters)
• Paper/wood: 0
• Misc./unique: 1 (athletic sock)

A couple weeks ago I posted a bit about rotting lobster traps. Just like a coffee cup can disintegrate into a thousand little floating Styrofoam balls, waiting to get eaten by sealife, a ruined lobster trap will eventually rust, and its vinyl coating will peel off, a little at a time. For years to come.

High-tide line at Zone S

More interesting to me is this, recipient of the Surely Traveled the Longest award:

Crumbling, degraded chunk of plastic bowl

This thing falls apart in my hands. Who knows what it once was. It's no doubt got a long and tortured tale. Wonder where the rest of it is.

So another week down. My big takeaways from this one: (1) High-season beachgoers stake their territory by 7AM. (2) Bay View denizens love their bonfires. (3) It's really nice to go a few weeks without finding a condom wrapper.