Clean-Up Tons of Debris from the Ocean & Beaches

Ahoy, friend and wonderful supporter! We hope this update finds you doing well during this unique time.

While most of the news we read every day goes from bad to worse (to downright depressing) at times, there IS some good news out there as well – and we’re here to offer you more of it!  

To begin with, as most countries shut down non-essential travel and public gatherings, global wildlife gets to breathe a sigh of relief as people stay at home to keep themselves and others healthy.

These are trying times for everyone, and it’s no different for ODA volunteers. We’re always itching to remove more marine debris, but we have many successes to share with you from the last few months!

So here is the good news we’ve collected for you…

• In July, we head out just outside Los Angeles Harbor with a skeleton crew of 2 divers and a deckhand.  ODA’s small team removed 40 pounds of deadly debris.  After much consideration and planning, this outing gave us the confidence to resume our cleanup operations, just adjusted for safety with fewer people onboard

• Early August: Our Founder and Captain, Kurt Lieber, had the opportunity to address the commissioners on the California Fish and Game Commission (CF&G).  He shared video and discussed marine debris and whale entanglements knowledge gained over the past 20 years (link below). Our video and presentation were very well received at the CF&G meeting. This is a HUGE step in the right direction and reinforces the value that our science and documentation bring to the table. View some of the images he shared here.

• An additional outing in August included a massive beach cleanup at Waiahole Beach, in Hawaii. Waiahole Beach Park was relieved of 3,000 pounds of debris thanks to ODA-HI and Nudi Wear.  

• We never forget the plastic plague. So, when an ODA volunteer and board member mentioned debris along a bike path along and over the Santa Clara River, we jumped into action. Several volunteers worked for two hours removing about 70 pounds of plastics. This debris was mostly single use items: food wrappers, straws, cups and lids, water bottles and caps, and of course, hundreds of cigarette butts (ew, right?)…. You can read more about that great day here.

• On Sunday, August 16^th, a small ODA crew of five of us decided to take our vessel Mr. Barker’s LegaSea out to the Los Angeles Harbor breakwall. It’s a real challenge doing all this work with such a small crew. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re doing our best to keep the number of people onboard to a minimum. We successfully removed one trap, 200 feet of trap line, 100’s of feet of fishing lines, and half a dozen pieces of trap remnants. The trash container was filled up with debris, and we covered about 300 more yards of our Seven-Mile Wall Crawl. Oy, this is going to take a while…  

• In the battle to put an end to the injury and death of marine animals – especially whales – ODA is building a dataset of information to show when and where high concentrations of traps are set each year. Our teams have made several outings to collect more data in the defense of marine critters. Our project is called Trap Trackers. You can learn more about our program in this article.

ODA is committed to cleaning our oceans through small-crew (COVID-safe) boat outings; beach, harbor, and channel cleanups; scientific studies; and educational outreach!

There’s much work to be done to achieve a debris-free sea and we appreciate you partnering with us to ensure it happens. Thank YOU!

To be continued…

Links:

• ODA on Facebook
• Sign-up for ODA E-News
• Ocean Defenders Alliance website homepage

Our first wish is that you, our wonderful supporter, and other fellow ocean conservationists are doing well during this time of global pandemic. You're in our thoughts!

Usually, our reports are jam-packed with success stories and impressive statistics of marine debris removed. However, during this spring and early summer, the global pandemic has marginalized our efforts. The need for distancing has prevented the majority of our debris-removal work because, when on our boats, we operate in close quarters.

However, we're happy to report that we've had success in several efforts, and we're pleased to tell you about them.

Boats can be a challenge to maintain and they need to be run regularly. We needed to check the systems on our flagship the LegaSea, and thankfully, we found a way to get around the need to social-distance on the boat! We had only two of our experienced crewmembers come out on the boat with Captain Lieber. The reason this worked? Those two people were a married couple, so no need to distance there! You can see from the pictures in the article we posted, Captain Kurt was able to stay far away doing his captain's work on the bridge, while Jeff and Sue removed trash from the ocean.

In Hawai'i, several of our dedicated volunteers were able to conduct debris-removal dives at three different sites, and successfully removed fishing lines, ropes, hooks, and lead weights. Way to go guys. :-)

In California, two of our veteran crewmembers were out on the water for some paddle-boarding and spotted illegal lobster traps. They got the trap identification and reported this to Captain Lieber who immediately notified his contacts at the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DF&W). Amazingly, because of our reporting, they were able to remove seven deadly lobster traps! It pays to remain vigilant. Please let us know if you ever see any marine debris!

When early June came, we felt we could safely do a debris-removal dive with a small crew. This time four people went out with Captain Lieber to initiate our new project the "Seven-mile Wall Crawl." Our plan is to remove abandoned lobster traps along the seven-mile breakwall that protects the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor. On this particular day, we didn't snag a trap but the crew did haul out three anchors, some anchor chain, and rope. As soon as the lockdown eases up, we'll be back out there to remove the ghost gear that we're sure is present at this known fishing site!

One more positive to share with you: Captain Kurt Lieber was invited to be a guest presenter at our dive shop partner Jack's Diving Locker's annual Ocean Fair. They were quite creative and did the event online. It was a great success and Kurt was honored to be featured along with many other well-respected ocean conservationists. Kurt's 34-minute presentation is on YouTube. We think you'll enjoy it. He showed video from both California and Hawai'i, sharing lots of great information about the good work YOU help make happen!

Your support is essential if we're going to have clean coastal waters in California and Hawai'i. It's so important that the ocean remain free of man-made debris whether it's derelict fishing gear like lines, nets, and traps or the plethora of plastic trash that can often be perceived as food to marine wildlife. We'll be back out there as soon as possible to continue this vital work.

Thank you for your care and concern for the ocean and the creatures who live live in them!

Your ODA Team