Mile 291 - Camp Magruder north, Watseco, Twin Rocks SW - November 27, 2016

Report Details

My family and I chose to spend Thanksgiving and the weekend after in Rockaway Beach. It was a blustery, wet vacation, but a great one all the same. Sunday we decided to make the trek down the beach to report on my mile. Due to the large amount of rain we have been getting lately, we entered the mile from the south rather than the north. The tide was coming in and the wind was blowing consistenly from the south, making the trip up the beach not too bad. We collected about 3 large garbage bags of trash. Most of the debris was located high up the shoreline and consisted of debris from ships/fishing vessels, with a minimal amount appearing to be generated from shoreline visitors. The one, really odd, deviation was there were about 50 cabbages and a very large pumpkin on the beach. This really puzzled us as we weren't sure if someone had dumped them, or if they had washed up from a ship. Interesting conversation topic. I'm guessing the positioning high on the beach was due to the recent king tides we've had. There was also less evidence of partying and firework detination. There were not very many gulls on the beach today, however there were 7 deceased birds along the driftline. In regards to human activity, there really wasn't much of anyone on the beach today, as we were the only humans and dogs on the beach the entire time we were there.

Conditions

Temperature: 50 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW.

Human Activities

Number of people: 4. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 4. Photography: 1. There were three other people other than myself on the beach this morning. They were accompanying me on my mile assisting me with picking up trash and observing things. The weather was frigid and the tide was coming in, not exactly making it the most ideal of days to be on the beach. I think the locals and visitors to Rockaway agreed with me on this as we didn't see a single other person during our 3 hours on the beach today.

Concerns

Litter

Apparent violations: As usual there was a consist amount of litter throughout the mile. Today's trash seemed to be more along the lines of debris washed up from a fishing vessel, i.e. broken pieces of plastic, shredded netting, rope, styrofoam, and ripped up floats. The litter was also pushed up very high on to the beach, I'm assuming this was due to the recent King Tides..

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 1.

Notable Wildlife

Minimal seaweed at the edge of the surf. Fewer crabs and razor clams than on previous visits.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 7. Not sure on the species as a lot of them were pretty deteriorated and unrecognizable. I documented as many as I could and attached photos.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). There was a lot of VERY large driftwood at the edge of the driftline. Many of which looked like very large, heavy trees that hadn't been in the ocean very long.

Natural Changes

The creek towards the northern section of the mile has washed out and widened considerably due to the increased rainfall over the past week. It is more of a lagoon than a creek now as it is over a foot deep and at least 12 yards wide.