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IllE0cEAlll$By Sarah Friday Peters

Kuzu. Abfall. Ordures.No matter how the speakers said

it at the Second lnternational Con-ference on Marine Debris, thewords all meant the same thing.

liash.The speakers came from 11 dif-

ferent countries, but they spoke thesame language as allies againstplastics and marine litter.

For a week in April in Honolulu,Hawaii, the group learned thattrash has no boundaries with theoceans as its highways.

For most, the story was the same.Researchers Zoe Lucas and C.W.

Ross of Nova Scotia found 90 per-cent of the items they picked up ina Sable lsland study were plastic.

On six Mediterranean Seabeaches, Abraham Golik of the Na-tional lnstitute of Oceanography inlsrael collected trash in a studyearlier this year: 71.6 percent wasplastic.

Russian packaging washedashore on New Zealand beaches.

South American products an-chored in Africa,

And a Chilean detergent bottlefloated to North Carolina's OuterBanks.

No doubt plastic debris is aglobal marine pollutant that inflictsever-increasing environmental andfinancial costs, says Jim Coe of theNational Marine Fisheries Servicein Seattle, Wash.

No doubt solutions must take ani nternational perspective, too.

But too many questions stand inthe way of answers now the ex-perts say. Researchers, technolo-gists, economists, educators andpolicy-makers are just beginning toaddress problems associated withmarine debris.

Four years ago, the first marinedebris conference consisted mainlyof scientists who found entangledbirds or plastic pieces en route toother research.

Now counting those birds andcollecting that plastic is the mainfocus of their research.

Peter Ryan has had his eye onbirds for years.

The South African ornithologtstsays seabirds such as albatrosseseat more plastics than any othergroup of animals. Most often theymistake the debris for food such asshrimp.

The amount of plastic that birdsingest corresponds to the densityof debris at sea, Ryan says. Withthose numbers increasing, he'sworried about seabird populations.

lngested plastics can physicallydamage a bird's digestive tract, hisstudies show Some contain toxiccompounds such as lead, mercuryand PCBs. ln addition, if a bird'sstomach fills with plastic, there's noroom for real food. And the plasticthey don't digest can sometimes beregurgitated or "offloaded" to theirchicks.

Bird nests tell the same story,says Richard Podolsky, an ornithol-ogist at the lsland lnstitute inRockland, Maine.

Ot 497 double-crested cormorantnests he examined visually, 1BB or38 percent had plastic in them.When some of the nests weredissected, the incidence of plasticwas much higher-7O percent.

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So far, Podolsky's data indicatesthe nests reflect the amount ofdebris floating into the area.

"There's more of it out there thanwe've all seeni' Podolsky says. "ltcan have a longterm effect on thepopulation."

The same thing can happen tofish, sea turtles, Northern fur seals,dolphins, whales, sea lions andother marine animals.

lncidents of plastic ingestion andentanglement are widespread. Yetdata is sketchy because most ofthese animals move from place toplace.

Keeping count of the trash iseasier.

Scientific studies provide a win-dow to the wodd of waste. Andbeach cleanups like North Caro-lina's Beach Sweep have becomepart of a national effort to pinpointtypes and sources of marine debrisin the United States.

Last fall during beach cleanupsin 25 states and territories, 42500volunteers picked up 976 tons oftrash. And they recorded eachpiece on data cards from the'Center for Marine Conservation.The results comprised the first Na-tional Marine Debris Database.

So far, 65 percent of the itemscounted were plastic. Eleven per-cent were metal; 10 percent, paper;and 9 percent, glass.

Foam plastic pieces topped thelist. Plastic pieces, plastic cups andutensils, metal beverage cans andfoam plastic cups followed.

Not all the trash can be catego-rized by source, says CMC's KathyO'Hara. But of the items identifiedmost were galleytype wastes fromboats and cargo ships. Fishing andboating gear came in second.

Less than 1 percent of the itemsfound were medical wastes.

But that was enough to keep

thousands of vacationers awayfrom New York and New Jerseybeaches last summer

ln Long lsland, 1B percent fewerpeople basked at the beach, result-ing in a $921 million loss in tourismrevenues, reports Kathryn Wagnerof the Office of Technology Assess-ment in Washington, D.C.

New Jersey beaches saw an 8 to34 percent decrease in attendanceand a $745 million decrease inrevenues, Wagner adds. Lost tour-ism and the increased costs ofmonitoring the beach hit hard.

The looming threat of medicaldebris and marine litter raises hairsin other coastal communities, too.And rightly so, Wagner says. With-out change, an economic impact onvessels and shorelines is evident.

lmplementation of Annex V of theMARPOL (Marine Pollution) Treatyshould help. The ocean dumpinglaw that went into effect lastDecember. prohibits the disposal ofall plastics in the ocean and re-quires vessels to take such trashback to port.

The U.S. Navy is doing its part,too. By April, it reported a 70 percentdecrease in plastics going to sea.

Teachers, port authorities, envi-ronmental groups, commercialfishermen, federal and state gov-ernments and others are joining theforces.

Even the plastics industry iscleaning up its act.

Companies are pouring millionsinto new technologies for degrad-able plastics and recycling. Andthe Society for the Plastics lndustry,lnc., a nationaltrade association, isworking with CMC to educate theindustry and the public about prob-lems associated with marine debris.

Worldwide, such efforts will makethe difference. And that's goodnews-no matter how you say it.

ruNNNGIRA$IIANOUNDBy lGthy Hart

Let's face it, America. We're athrowaway society.

ln a wealthy nation rich in goods,almost everything is made to bedisposable-diapers, paper plates,plastic cups, razors, lighters, cans,even contact lenses.

Use something once, maybetwice,and it's garbage. Plunk it in thetrash can and push it out by thecurb. Or, the less conscientious tossit out the window drop it overboardor leave it behind.

Rep. John D. Dingell, chairmanof the U.S. House Energy andCommerce Committee, says, "Theage of disposables, from diapers tofaslfood packaging, is leaving ourcommunities awash in a sea ofgarbage."

ln last year's beach cleanup ofthe Tar Heel coast, volunteerspicked up thousands of dispos-ables-8,346 soft drink bottles,1,068 fast food containers, 11,238beverage cans and 2,471 papercups.

And North Carolina's beachcleanup totals are just the tip of aniceberg that may sink this nation inits own refuse. Consider these factsfrom the Environmental DefenseFund:o Each American produces half a

ton of garbage a yearo Americans go through 2.5 million

plastic bottles every hour.. We trash enough office and

Continued on next page

writing paper annually to build awall 12 feet high from LosAngeles to New York City.

. We throw away enough glass bot-tles and jars to fill the 1,350Joottwin towers of the World TradeCenter every two weeks.

o We discard enough aluminum torebuild our entire commercialairline fleet every three months.All of these disposables are add-

ing up to a heap of trash-160million tons-and a national gar-bage bill that totals more than $10billion. Current waste disposal prac-tices mean B0 percent of it will beburied in landfills and 10 percentburned in incinerators.

But what about the rest?It's recycled-meaning it is

reprocessed, reformed and reused.It's not lying in a landfill.

And that's what has city, countYand state officials excited fromcoast to coast. Many landfills arenear capacity, and with land Pricesskyrocketing, municipalities arehard pressed to find a place tobury their rubbish.

That's why we see wanderinggarbage barges on the nightlynews and municipal refuse rollingashore with the incoming tide.

But recycling offers hope. lt savesmoney, energy and natural resources.

Moneywise, recycling saves dol-lars that would otherwise have topay for the burial or burning ofrefuse. And it can generate income.Paper, aluminum, glass and plasticcan be sold to recycling companies.

From an industrial standpoint, us-ing recycled materials requires lessenergy than raw materials. Accord-ing to the Environmental DefenseFund, making a can out of recycledaluminum takes only 5 percent ofthe energy needed to make analuminum can from raw material.

And recycling conserves natural

resources such as forests andsaves habitats.

But most folks think recyclingmeans only glass, aluminum andpaper. However, plastic can berecycled, too, says Barry Appelgetof Mountain Polymers, a plasticrecycling company in Greensboro.

Plastic soft drink bottles and milkjugs can be reformed into flowerpots, carpet pads, toys, hose pipeand fillfor pillows.

Plastic recycling is a fledgling in-dustry, but one that is growing fast,Appelget says. And no wonder.There is plenty of plastic to recycle.

Appelget says 57.2 billion poundsof plastic are produced in the

Photo W Scott Taylor

All of these items can be recycled.

United States every year, and 15billion pounds of that is onetime-use packaging.

Needless to say, much of thatplastic ends up in our garbage. Byvolume, 25 percent of all trashburied in landfills is plastic.

And the qualities that makeplastic so popular-light weight,durability and strength-also meanthat it can take more than 400years to degrade.

Althou gh plastic's longevity cou ntsagainst it in the landfill, it's apositive factor for recycling. ltsdurability and strength mean it can

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be melted and reformed over andover again, Appelget says.

But only 1 percent of the plasticproduced in the United States isrecycled. Appelget is trying to in-crease those figures,

His company is processing 5,000pounds of plastic a day or enoughplastic per week to fill a one-acrelandfill B feet deep.

But for Appelget's company andothers like it to succeed, they needplenty of used material. And thatmeans folks need to separate outtheir recyclable refuse.

Some local governments, suchas Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh,have begun recycling programs.

ln Charlotte, residents are pro-vided with a special 1O-gallon'burb it" container in which toplace plastic soft drink bottles,glass and aluminum beverage cans.Newspapers are placed in paperbags on top of the containers.

According to the Center forPlastic Recycling Research, resultsfrom the pilot project showed thatat least 74 percent of the eligiblehouseholds in Charlotte wererecycling regularly.

Other city and county govern-ments in North Carolina and nation-wide are following suit. Presently, atleast 600 U.S. municipalities piikup recyclable materials at the curb.Others have designated drop-off bins.

lf your town doesn't have a recy-cling program, you can still reduceyour refuse by taking some items tothe nearest buy-back center Mostcenters accept glass, aluminum, tincans and newspapers.

Some also accept magazines,aluminum foil and scrap, cor-rugated cardboard, paper bags,phone books, wood and plasticcontainers. Check with your buy-back center to see how you canmake a difference.

When the camera panned on aremote beach piled high with trash,the audience stared stone-faced.

When they watched a baby sealion struggle to free itself from afishing net, they raised theireyebrows.

When the scene flashed to aseabird strangled in a plastic six-pack yoke, they winced.

But a sea turtle with a plastic bagprotruding from its mouth broughtgasps and looks of disgust from theaudience.

"Ooh." "Gross." "Yuck."Those were the reactions from a

classroom full of sixth-graders-some of the very people who oneday will be entrusted with the fateof our seas.

They were also some of the folksSea Grant and other state agencieshad in mind when we began spon-soring a statewide beach cleanupthree years ago.

Sure, we wanted to rid the coastof trash, says Sea Grant marineeducation specialist Lundie Spence,the Big Sweep coordinator But wealso wanted to raise awareness ofthe litter problem on our beaches

and to change people's bad habits.We figured if we educated kids

about the problem, they'd grow upto be more responsible citizens.

"lt's the standard cliche that thestudents of today will become thevoters of tomorrow But that state-ment carries a lot of weight,"Spence says.

"We adults think that kids aren'tconcerned about the environment,"Spence says. "But ask a kid whathe thinks about littering. You'll findthey have an awareness of theproblem."

Spence was right. Coastwatchrecently visited a sixth-gradescience class in Wake County. Andif their comments are any indica-tion, these kids will take good careof the coast.

"l went to the beach last weekend,and I was looking for shells. But I

found a lot of glass and trash, too,"Aaron says.

"Our society is so lazy," Lesliesays. "lf there's a trash can on thebeach next to them, they'll still tosstheir trash right on the ground."

"We're a society of convenience,"Beth says.

"People think that leaving theirtrash on the beach doesn't matter,"Anna says. "lt saves them time. Butit all builds up."

"Yeah," says Andrew. "Peopledon't realize that the water cancome up and carry allthe wasteout to sea."

Andy Wood, education curator atthe North Carolina Aquarium atFort Fisher, believes the best age toteach kids about their environmentis the fifth grade. But even three-year-olds aren't too young to learn,he says.

"They can develop a sense ofresponsibility," he says. "lt's impor-tant to approach kids early so they

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IAIfiIIrROM

IIIErflD$By Nancy Davis

develop a positive attitude aboutthemselves and their planet."

"Once they get a little oldet theystart to set a pattern. They're ex-posed to kids with other philoso-phies. lf we wait too long, they mayalready have something ingrainedin their minds. They may alreadyhave a lackadaisical attitude aboutwhere they put their garbage,"Wood says.

Wood focuses his programs onmarine debris towards children,with the hope that he'll also reachtheir parents.

"So when that parent pulls up toa traffic light and dumps his ashtrayin the street, the child may tell theparent, 'Hey, wait a minute. Don'tdo that.' So we're able to approachadults through children. Sometimesadults won't listen to other adults,but they'll listen to kids," Woodsays.

Evidently, Wood is right. Sixth-grader Becky says if she saw herparents littering, she'd reprimandthem. And if she saw a strangerdrop trash on the beach? "l'd givethem a dirty look, and then l'd pickit up," she says.

Anna says, "lf I saw someone lit-tering, l'd tellthem that animals aredying because you're doing this."

Andrew would have another ap-proach. "l'd pick it up and askthem why they did that. Then l'dgive them reasons not to do thatagain," he says.

The students also had some rec-ommendations for reducing litter onthe beaches.

Anna believes local beach com-munities should pitch in more. Shesays, "On some beaches, we shouldhave more trash cans. lf there aremore there, people might use themmore."

Andrew says we should "passsome more laws against dumpingtrash."

"lf you see trash on the beach,take lt back and help clean up,"Courtney says,

Mark believes it s all a matter ofgetting the word out "We shouldput advertisements on plastrcbags-Save the ocean' And thenpeople might think about it more,"he says.

But even for all their concern andsage advice, every now and then,the rnnocence of a sixth-grader wasreplaced with a touch of cynicism.

Becky put the problem most suc-cinctly when she said, "There'salways gonna be somebody whodoesn't care. There's always gonnabe some business or some peoplewho just don't care."

But Becky adds, "When we growup and we get into offices likegovernor and stuff, . . .we can do alot more about it'

Concerned kids pick up trash inlast year's beach cleanup.

IIIEBIG$WEEP

Volunteer for The Big Sweeptoday!

Jorn others Sept. 23 for the na-tion's first statewide waterwaycleanup. To volunteer, pick yourfavorite North Carolina beach, lakeor river. We'll supply the litter bags;you bring gloves, a hat and sun-screen. For cleanup locations, callour Telecom USA toll{ree hotline1-800-27SWEEP between B a.m.and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

And show your support early byordering a Big Sweep T-shirt. Thewhite, 100 percent cotton shirtscarry the blue and yellow sweepinglogo across the front.

The T-shirts come in medium,large and extra-large sizes.Mediums are great for kids. Besure to specify the quantities andsizes you need.

To order yours, send $5 plus $1for postage and handling per shirtto Sea Grant. Make checks payableto The Big Sweep-KNCCB.

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Photo by Scoft Taylor

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"The Back Page" is an update on Sea

G rant activities-on research, marineeducation and advisory services. lt's alsoa good place to find out about meetings,workshops and new publications. Formore information on any of the projects

described, contact the Sea Grant offices inRaleigh (919/737-2454). For copies of pub-lications, write UNC Sea Grant, Box 8605,NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-8605.

Be one of a first. Joinother volunteers on Sept. 23

for the nation's first state-

wide waterway cleanup.Help pick up litter fromNags Head to the Nanta-

hala River or just about any lake or river inbetween for The Big Sweep '89.

Formerly Beach Sweep, The Big Sweepwill cover North Carolina's coastline andinland waterways. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,

volunteers will collect trash and recordeach piece on data cards. The tallies will

be compiled into a national data base in

Washington, D.C.

Any groups or individuals can par-

ticipate. Just choose your favorite beach,lake or river and call the lelecom USA Big

Sweep Hotline 1-800-27SWEEP

And while you're out by the water, weara T-shirt bearing The Big Sweep logo. Theyellow swoosh with blue lettering coversthe front of the 100 percent cotton shirt. To

order yours, send $5 plus $1 for postageand handling per shirt to Sea Grant. Makechecks payable to The Big Sweep-KNCCB.

The Big Sweep '89 is coordinated by

Sea Grant, Keep North Carolina Cleanand Beautiful, WRAL-ry N.C.4-H Pro-gram, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commis-sion, N.C. Aquariums, N.C. Division of

Coastal Management, N.C. Division ofParks and Recreation, and Keep AmericaBeautif u liCarteret Cou nty.

Sea Grant has just installed a new com-puter inventory and data base system thatwill help us keep better track of ournewsletter and publication customers.

ln transferring from one computersystem to another it's possible that someerrors may occur on your mailing label. lf

so, just wrile Coastwatch and notify us of

any changes you would like made. Pleaseinclude your new customer identificationnumber that appears on the mailing label

of this issue of Coastwatch.

Hurricanes, severe

storms and extreme flood-ing rarely occur in Eastern

North Carolina. But there's

always a chance they will.Living on the sound, river

or oceanfront increases the chances ofproperty damage or loss from flooding. So

for most coastal property owners, havingflood insurance pays off.

Typical homeowner insurance policies

don't cover damage caused by rising

water from coastal storms, erosion, stream

flooding or stormwater runoff, says

Spencer Rogers, Sea Grant's coastalengineer. lf you want flood insurancecoverage, you need a separate flood in-

surance policy.

Flood insurance is required for mostmortgages in flood-prone areas, Rogerssays. And it is recommended for coastalproperty owners in threatened areas.

But such insurance can be expensive.That's why Rogers recently wrole Saving

Money on Flood lnsurance for CoastalProperty Owners. This 12-page bookletoutlines construction techniques andbuilding modifications that can reduce theannual cost of flood insurance premiums.And it explains little-known details in theflood insurance program that can help you

and your insurance agent optimize rates.

As an example, one building style

typical of coastal construction is describedand modified to show the effect on annualflood insurance premiums.

Saving Money on Flood lnsurance is ahelpful guide for prospective builders, cur-rent homeowners or designers at thecoast. For copies, send $1 to Sea Grantand ask for publication number UNC-

SG-89-05. And be sure to use your

customer identification number, which ap-pears on Coastwatch, when ordering.

ln May, all shrimp boats

25 feet or longer trawling in

ocean waters were re-

quired to pull turtle ex-

cluder devices in their nets.

Since then, many fisher-

men using TEDs have complained of

reductions in trawl efficiency and in shrimpcatches.

But now, North Carolina fishermen canget help fine tuning their TEDs. With thehelp of a grant from the Gulf and South

Atlantic Fisheries Development Founda-tion, Sea Grant marine advisory agent Jim

Bahen and Varnamtown fisherman Geraldlvey will work with fishermen having TED

troubles.The purpose of the project is to mini-

mize the impact to fishermen of the transi-

tion to TEDs, Bahen says.

Jerry Schill, executive director of theN.C. Fisheries Association, is encouragingfishermen to call Bahen for help with theirTEDs.

"We're trying to teach fishermen how toinstall TEDs and how to finetune them.That's what this grant is for. We think theirproblems of shrimp loss and damage totheir nets will be minimized through thisgraht," schitl says.

Many fishermen are installing TEDs on

their vessels for the first time. And im-proper installatron can affect the perfor-

mance of a shrimp trawl, Bahen says.

lf you need help installing a TED or fine-

tuning one already on your boat, call

Bahen at 919/458-5498. Either Bahen orlvey will assist you as soon as possible.

The luniors and seniorsin New Bern Senior HighSchool's coastal biologyclass did more than studyscience last year. Theypublished a book. Seafood

for Thought is a 144-page paperback

book about North Carolina's bountifulseafood harvest.

The book is organized around theseafoods we pull from our Tar Heel waters,

including everything from oysters and &

clams to octopus "o:3x;x* d next page

I

Coastwatch is a lree newsletter. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list, fill outthis form and send it to Sea Grant, Box 8605, NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-8605.

Address

City/State/Zip

To help us specialize our services, please answer these questions.

I am in the iollowing line of work:

tr Seafood processing/marketi ng

tr State government

! U niversity professor/researcher

Io compile the book, the students inter-viewed fishermen, seafood dealers andmarine biologists. And they includedseveral recipes for each species.

For your copy of the book, write NewBern High School, 2000 Clarendon Blvd.,

New Bern, N.C. 28560. The cost forSeafood for Thought is $8.

Coastwatch is published monthly exceptJuly and December by the University ofNorth Carolina Sea Grant College Pro-gram, 105 1911 Building, Box 8605, NorthCarolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.

27695-8605. Vol. 16, No. Z August 1989.

Dr B.J. Copeland, director. Kathy Hart,

editor Nancy Davis and Sarah FridayPeters, staff writers.

tr Boatbuilding/repair

n City/county government

I Commercial fishing

f Educator

f Farming

E Homemaker

tr Lawyer

n Marina operator

n Marine recreation

I Mass media

! Other

Coastal property owner: tr yes I no Boat owner tr yes E no

$- contribution to defray printing costs for Coastwatch

105 1911 Building

Box 8605

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC 27695-8605

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