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 19, 2013

Tuesday, February 19. 11:45AM. A very raw & icy day at the beach.

With ice on the low foreshore and drifts of snow higher up, only the thin wrack line was thawed and searchable this day. I thought it was going to be a quick & unimpressive cleanup.

Until I started seeing these.

Vinyl scraps, from lobster traps. The huge mat of fine, pulverized seaweed (including all that white skeletal coralline algae) is a sign of a very gentle high-tide. One that lets the finest bits settle out on the sand without being washed back. The perfect conditions for the vinyl trap coatings.

So, my hour-and-a-half was quickly spoken for by this thin sliver of shoreline between ice and snow. In the end, of course, I found more than vinyl. Such as:

Coffeecup lids wash in every week

And a surprising amount of fishing rope too for such a thin strip.

All told, it was a shockingly big haul for a beach that was mostly unsearchable.

76 pcs of rope, about 60 ft total

467 pcs of nonrope debris

543 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 76
• Fishing misc.: 422 (8 claw bands, 2 trap bumpers, 2 bait bags, 410 vinyl scraps!)
• Food-related plastics: 11 (bottlecap scrap, cap o-ring, 7 cup scraps, bread tag, fork scrap)
• Food-related glass/metal: 2 (aluminum can scraps)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 10 (bag scrap, bandaid, degraded detergent jug, 2 cable ties, 3 vinyl upholstery scraps, sleeve, duct tape)
• Scrap plastics: 20 ( 3 > 1" , 17 < 1" )
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 2 (glove, metal washer)

Without question, the story of the day was the vinyl trap scraps. 410 of them on just that one strip of exposed land.

All told, 498 pcs of the 543 -- 91.7% -- was plastic lobstering debris. As I describe in more detail in my Portland Press Herald blog piece, "A Vinyl Tide," someone will have to pay for this. We can start now, changing the way we fish our waters and paying the extra price at the plate for better gear in the ocean. Or we can leave it to our kids and grandkids.

One way or another, someone will have to pay.

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 13508
• Pcs fishing rope -- 3775
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 5237

410

410. That's the number of little bits of vinyl coating from lobster traps I found on February 19. All picked from a thin unfrozen line at the back of the foreshore at Curtis Cove, Biddeford, Maine:

That makes 5237 pieces from the cove in the past year.

We consumers demand "cheap" food, "cheap" everything. In the 1970s, plastic-coated lobstering gear became readily available. Seeming cheap & effficient, Maine lobstermen had no choice. They had to start using it. Those who didn't, soon became ex-lobstermen, pushed out of a competitive business by downward pressures.

See more about the issue of plastic fishing gear in the Gulf of Maine at my Portland Press Herald blog "Undercurrents." A brand-new article on this topic posted today!

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 20, 2013

After a wild early winter settling into my new blog with the Portland Press Herald (woot!), traveling out of state, and dodging blizzards etc., am finally catching back up with some old beach collection reports.

Sunday, January 20, 2013. 10:15AM. Strong sea-breeze, winds picking up. 45 degrees but quickly on the way down.

Snow earlier in the week, mild overall. The wrack "smear" from January 11 was now shaped & packed into a very tight (and deep) coil.

Looks like there had been at least a couple very high & gentle tides. It nicely defined the back edge of the foreshore.

Down at the low foreshore, December's yellowish sand dump hadn't cleared out yet. It still buried all the pebbles & cobbles that usually litter the low ground.

Of course it carried its plastic load. Always.

As expected with so much seaweed to pore over, the haul was heavy.

176 pcs of rope, about 300 ft total

176 pcs of nonrope debris

352 finds:

• Bldg material/furniture: 0
• Foam/styrofoam: 0
• Fishing rope/net: 176 (~300 ft)
• Fishing misc.: 111 (2 buoy sticks, 8 clawbands, 72 vinyl coating scraps, 11 trap tags, 6 vents, 5 bait bags, 5 bumpers/cleats, 2 trap parts)
• Food-related plastics: 13 (2-liter bottle base (cut off), 3 bottle caps, 5 cup scraps, 2 wrapper scraps, jug scrap, abraded spoon)
• Food-related glass/metal: 2 (crushed new can, can scrap)
• Nonfood/unknown plastics: 22 (12 bag scraps, 2 balloon strings, cig lighter, cigarette, nonfood packaging, 2 cable ties, plant pot scrap, hook, base plate)
• Scrap plastics: 25 ( 11 > 1" , 14 < 1" ) 
• Paper/wood: 0
• Non-plastic misc./unique: 3 (2 fabric scraps, glove)

A sign of high tides and high waves was the mass of bait bags and trap vents.

These generally only make it to the cove when high energy pushes the floatables up and over the rocky outcrop at the cove's head.

Another find caused a double-take. On the sand, this spoon looked bright and new:

But once I got it home I could see just how scratched and abraded it actually was. This piece of cutlery spent a lot of time on the seafloor, rolling back and forth. Somehow it arrived at Curtis Cove intact, though nicely "frosted."

Running YTD counts:

• Total pcs of litter -- 12623
• Pcs fishing rope -- 3489
• Vinyl lobster-trap scraps -- 4814

Down to the Seas Again

"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

 I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over."

-- "Sea-Fever," John Masefield, 1902
Discovered in a quote by departing Deep Sea News blogger Kevin Zelnio.

I miss the sea. My time there since December has been limited by weather, chance, and responsibilities. Today, as the record-breaking blizzard outside winds down, I cannot wait for the roads to clear so I can see what mighty nature has done to Curtis Cove.

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