Free Our Shores (of Marine Debris) Coastal Cleanup

Miami, Florida
July 5, 2024

Overview

On Friday, July 5, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society collaborated with Miami Waterkeeper to host the third annual Free Our Shores (of Marine Debris) Coastal Cleanup. As always, this cleanup was held to remove debris from our shorelines that may accumulate during celebrations held on Independence Day. This year was different from previous years, as we wanted to focus our efforts on picnic islands within Biscayne Bay that are frequented by a lot of boaters looking to celebrate on the water. We were joined by 11 volunteers at FIU Biscayne Bay Campus where we boarded DISCOVERY Yacht River Queen and journeyed out to Sandspur Island. During the ride, our Community Engagement Associate, Lillian, and Miami Waterkeeper’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, Laura, briefed our volunteers on pertinent information to make the cleanup safe and successful. Once we landed on the island, our volunteers set out all along the coast and into the mangrove forest with bags, buckets, gloves and pickers to remove any trash they could find. There was no shortage of debris, and our volunteers made many trips back to the boat to empty their bags and buckets. Within one hour, we had collected over 242 pounds of trash! This included some heavy items such as an abandoned crab trap, several grills, a broken beach umbrella and a boat cushion, but we also removed several trash bags worth of lightweight items such as cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic utensils, glass bottles and aluminum cans. Thanks to Captain JD aboard D/Y River Queen, we were able to remove all this debris from the island to be properly disposed of on the mainland. We are so proud of our volunteers for their hard work at this cleanup, and we hope our efforts prevented further pollution of Biscayne Bay!

Outing Goal

Partner Sites

Photo Gallery

This slideshow requires JavaScript.