presents
2023 San Antonio Bay Shorelines Cleanup
Save The Dates
Tuesday Sept 26 – Seadrift
Saturday Sept 30 – Port O’Connor
Be a Bay R.A.T. and recruit your team today!
Sign up by phoning (713) 829-2852
or email allanberger@outlook.com
Plastic Pollution
In the fall of 2020, San Antonio Bay Partnership began organizing a Shorelines Cleanup around the Port O’Connor area. Much like the Abandoned Crab Trap Cleanup efforts, volunteers in boats and kayaks head out to small island shorelines throughout Matagorda Bay, Espiritu Santo Bay and San Antonio Bay. Volunteers are provided gloves and bags then walk or paddle while picking up trash. Trash is often hidden in the cord grass and mangroves and it can be a difficult task, but our volunteers know they make an impact. The volunteers are asked to log items of trash they remove. In the three years that this event has been held, plastic bottles are by far the most common item, followed by pieces of plastic, aluminum cans and then plastic bags.
Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a problem. The San Antonio Bay – Guadalupe Estuary system is of national significance given that it is the winter home of the endangered whooping crane and a thriving fishery. And although the area is a relatively undeveloped segment of the Texas Coast, it too is subject to plastic pollution.
2022 Cleanup Results
In 2022, The San Antonio Bay Partnership mobilized a group of volunteers to address this problem. They had 183 people in 33 teams who left 54 miles of shoreline cleaner than they found it by removing 4 tons of garbage. Most of the trash collected during the 2022 cleanup effort was also counted and entered into the NOAA Marine Debris Tracker. Last year’s debris consisted of 11, 883 total items, which included:
- 2,276 plastic drink bottles
- 907 plastic bags
- 873 aluminum cans
- 725 candy and potato chip bags
- 495 plastic and styrofoam cups
- 426 crab trap floats
- 405 shoes and pieces of clothing
- 401 pieces of fishing line, nets, and gear
- 278 shotgun shells
- 51 balloons and strings
Contributing Sponsor
A cleanup effort of this magnitude requires a lot of resources and funding. In an effort of helping make this year’s San Antonio Bay Shorelines Cleanup a success, Bay Flats Lodge is happy to announce our help as a sponsor for the event. This particular portion of the Texas coast is special, and is abundant with vibrant marine life. If there is to be any hope for sustainability of today’s coastal environment for tomorrow’s generation, we all need to do our part in any way we can. It’s all about paying things forward and doing the right thing!
We Need Your Help
Planning for this event is underway, so mark your calendar and save the date for the 2023 San Antonio Bay Shorelines Cleanup:
- Tuesday, Sept 26th, in Seadrift, TX
- Saturday, Sept 30th, in Port O’Connor, TX
Volunteers and boats are needed for a systematic and comprehensive approach to cleaning these shorelines – all of which are accessible only by boat.
We’ll be back to you later with further details!
Be a Bay R.A.T. and recruit your team today!
Sign up by phoning (713) 829-2852
or email allanberger@outlook.com
