Holiday Cleanup at Margaret Pace Park

Overview

On December 21, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted a Holiday cleanup at Margaret Pace Park in Downtown Miami. We were joined by 25 volunteers who met with us for a quick safety briefing before grabbing their gear to collect debris left in the park and along its coastline. In celebration of the holiday season, volunteers were encouraged to bring a gift to donate to a Toys for Tots drive held by one of our local DISCOVERY Yacht captains. In just two short hours, our hardworking group of volunteers was able to remove more than 160 pounds of trash, ranging from tiny bottle caps and microplastics to entire backpacks and shoes. Most of this debris was removed from the waterline, where it may be on its way into Biscayne Bay, or it may have washed up as marine debris from the nearby picnic islands. By removing trash from our coastlines, we can take steps to protect the water quality of Biscayne Bay and protect our resident dolphins, seabirds and manatees from suffering at the hands of marine debris. We are so thankful to all our volunteers for coming out to give back to their communities and the ocean in celebration of the holidays, and look forward to seeing them at events in the future!

Marine Debris Tracker is a data collection app that allows the general public to contribute to an open-date platform and scientific research by recording the different types of litter, specifically plastic pollution, that they find in either inland or marine environments. Marine Debris Tracker was developed by the University of Georgia’s Jambeck Research Group, which SeaKeepers worked with in 2021 when the Jambeck Research Group collaborated with Ocean Conservancy to assess Miami’s plastic waste management, known as a Circularity Assessment Protocol. SeaKeepers again assisted the Jambeck Research Group’s Circularity Informatics Lab in 2022 with another Circularity Assessment Protocol in the Florida Keys. The researchers of the Jambeck Lab use the Marine Debris Tracker app to record their data, and with citizen scientists also using the app, more data can be collected in different areas. Using Marine Debris Tracker at our cleanups involves community members in creating a bigger picture of plastic pollution, and provides the means for new scientific findings to be generated as well as for effective local legislation to be informed. SeaKeepers is excited to be incorporating this app at our cleanups and continue our mission of coastal education, protection, and restoration. In this cleanup, 40% of volunteers participated in using the app to record data.