Mile 291 - Camp Magruder north, Watseco, Twin Rocks SW - January 28, 2017

Report Details

Today was a beautiful day at the beach, partly sunny, light breeze, warm air temperature. The tide was almost at its highest point. Several people were walking around the beach, enjoying the sand and playing in the waves. It was apparent that the shoreline had been greatly impacted by the recent king tides. Driftwood and debris that had previously been located lower on the shoreline had been pushed up onto the ridge above, roughly 5-10 feet. This made our trash collection efforts much more difficult as the footing was unpredictable. We successfully removed 4 bags of litter, a destroyed crab pot, and a small boat buoy. Much to my disdain there was a considerable amount of styrofoam pellets all over the beach. These were next to impossible to completely remove as they averaged in size from a quarter to the end of a pen and blanketed almost the entire mile.

Conditions

Temperature: 45 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: S.

Human Activities

Number of people: 40. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 40. Playing in surf: 10.

Concerns

Litter

Apparent violations: As always there was a fair amount of litter along the coastline. We did our due diligence in removing as much as we could..

Notable Wildlife

There was not very much wildlife along the mile today. Only a small handful, maybe 4-6 gulls. Very few crustaceans and mollusks had washed up in the drift line.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 1. We only came upon one dead bird today. I'm not sure of its species, but you can find a picture attached to this report.

Driftline Content

Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). Very few shells today in comparison to the usual amount. There was a ton of tiny pieces of styrofoam all over the beach today, much more than usual. Additionally, there was the same standard plastic pellets as there always is. We also came across and removed a small boat buoy and a destroyed crab pot.

Natural Changes

Evidence of wave overtopping.