Large Scale Marine Debris Removal in Beaufort, NC.
Through a grant from NOAA's Marine Debris Program, N.C. Coastal Reserve, the Town of Beaufort, and TowBoatUS Beaufort removed thousands of tons of large scale marine debris and conducted an abandoned vessel clean-up. BoatUS Foundation documented this effort and highlights this amazing project's impact.
Transcript
00:00 So I hope that you'll consider what the
00:02 work that's been done here and Beaufort
00:03 is kind of a benchmark for for other
00:05 things and the template that you can use
00:06 in other locations. (Rett Newton, Mayor of Beaufort, NC speaking) It's twofold right
00:09 you're cleaning up the waterways but
00:11 this is a public health issue and I
00:12 actually add a third isn't this good for
00:15 commerce wouldn't people want to come to
00:17 Beaufort to a clean water of coastal
00:19 community the answer is clearly yes. (Paula Gillikin, Central Site Manager speaking) to
00:21 undertake a project like this first you
00:24 need to understand the extent of the
00:26 problem so collecting data on the
00:28 problem understanding how much debris
00:30 there is and what the risk is to the
00:33 environment and people and then knowing
00:35 how many resources you need to address
00:37 that problem. We couldn't do a project
00:40 like this without great partnerships and
00:44 I think we have the best example of
00:47 partnership working well in the Beaufort
00:50 area with this project. We have the
00:53 coastal reserve and it's protected
00:56 Nature Reserve which is used as an
00:58 outdoor laboratory in an outdoor
01:00 classroom and we have overlapping waters
01:03 with the jurisdiction of the Town of
01:06 Beaufort. So we're both invested in the
01:09 issue for a lot of the same reasons.
01:11 We're both passionate about keeping our
01:14 environment beautiful and clean and
01:17 available for public use. (Lee Skykes, Atlantic Coast Marine Group, Inc. speaking) This project
01:21 showed how local organizers can reach
01:26 out within the community and find
01:28 various stakeholders that had unique
01:30 talents and skill sets to take an idea
01:34 and make it a viable project. And that's
01:37 what Beaufort did here. When the reserve
01:41 came to me and wanted me to get involved
01:44 with this project I said not only are we
01:46 gonna get involved from the operation
01:48 side but we're gonna get involved on the
01:50 money side too. In return we matched a
01:52 lot of money to help pull this off
01:54 because this was a big project. (Dr. Liz DeMattia, Research Scientist speaking) It's been
01:57 really fun to work with NOAA on this
02:00 project because our students can pick up
02:03 small pieces of debris but as the larger
02:06 abandoned derelict vessels
02:08 and other pieces that our students can't
02:11 pick up but that we all see when we walk
02:13 on the beaches or walk in downtown
02:15 Beaufort, this partnership allows greater
02:18 resources to take some of those out and
02:21 actually clean up our beaches from some
02:23 of the bigger things that we as
02:25 individual citizens can't do. (Lee Skykes, Atlantic Coast Marine Group, Inc. speaking) The risk
02:29 and dangers involved in a project like
02:31 this are kinda at every stage. You've got
02:34 guys underneath the water working you're
02:36 taking an item that is decomposing so
02:40 it's not as structurally intact so when
02:43 it comes up something may break and
02:45 separate. And then once you successfully
02:47 get it to the surface then you have to
02:49 get it ashore and the towing operation
02:52 of towing a partially submerged boat or
02:54 towing a piece of a boat presents its
02:57 own risk. Then when you go to shore side
02:59 trying to crane this out and a lot of
03:02 these vessels if you can just imagine in
03:05 your head that it's like wet cardboard.
03:06 So when you go to take the load it kind
03:09 of settles in the straps and it moves on
03:12 you a little bit and then you have to go
03:14 through the dismantling and disposing of
03:17 it. (Dr. Liz DeMattia, Research Scientist speaking) And some of the derelict vessels and
03:21 big pieces can pollute, right, so rubber
03:24 overtime those smaller pieces of plastic
03:27 and break up into smaller pieces of
03:29 plastic and that can enter our food
03:31 chain. Getting rid of the bigger pieces
03:33 not only improves the beauty of the area
03:37 but also decreases the probability that
03:39 any of the pollutants will break up and
03:42 enter our food chain in the ocean.
03:44 (Paula Gillikin, Central Site Manager speaking) Vessels are a problem for people they're
03:47 problem for the water and they're
03:48 problem for a wildlife. (Lee Skykes, Atlantic Coast Marine Group, Inc. speaking) I've got two
03:51 little kids they like to swim and play
03:53 on the island over there, I don't want
03:55 them getting cut up on debris there's a
03:58 lot of families that are using these
03:59 shorelines and using these waters. (Kyle Garner, Planning & Inspections speaking) We've
04:02 been extremely pleased we had no idea
04:04 that we'd be this successful this short
04:07 of time into the project. We've removed
04:09 thousands of pounds of debris as well
04:12 some abandoned vessels. We're already
04:15 starting to hear positive comments from
04:16 our community and the budding community.
04:18 (Rett Newton, Mayor of Beaufort, NC speaking) A large part of this is the education
04:22 just making sure that they understand
04:23 sometimes marine debris can be out of
04:25 sight out of mind but it doesn't mean
04:26 it's not there
04:27 doesn't mean that it's not impacting us.
04:29 (Paula Gillikin, Central Site Manager speaking) We want to bring the public out to the
04:31 Nature Reserve out to the Rachel Carson
04:33 Reserve and have them participate in
04:36 marine debris cleanups, have them
04:38 invested as a part of the project so
04:42 that they understand marine debris
04:43 issues better, and we'll go home and
04:46 think about perhaps the products that
04:49 they're using that can contribute to
04:51 marine debris. Start at home securing
04:54 your debris in the proper way.
04:56 Making sure it's not overflowing in your
04:58 recycling bin think about the things
05:00 that you use in your home and instead of
05:02 putting those vegetables in a plastic
05:04 bag at the grocery store try just
05:06 putting them in a reusable bag and then
05:08 you won't have to worry about that bag
05:09 getting away from you. (Rett Newton, Mayor of Beaufort, NC speaking) You’ve got the federal level
05:12 you've got the state level you've got
05:13 the municipal level and you've got
05:15 commercial entities and you've got
05:17 academic entities that are involved as
05:19 well.
05:19 And this is all part of a clean water
05:21 coastal community.