MOREHEAD CITY — Three organizations committed to taking on litter and protecting the environment will join together the Monday after the North Carolina Seafood Festival to host the NC Seafood Fest Waterway Clean-up on the Morehead City waterfront and Sugarloaf Island.
Hosted by Bogue Banks Surfrider, Ocean Friendly Establishments and Carteret Big Sweep,the cleanup will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 9. Participants can lend a hand by kayak, paddleboard, boat or on foot to help keep the trash from entering the waterways.
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Crystal Coast Waterkeeper Larry Baldwin will provide boats attendees can ride in, Second Wind Eco Tours of Swansboro will bring extra kayaks there for use or visitors can walk along the waterfront to collect litter. Sign up will be at the 10th Street docks and the kayak launch is a block away at 11th Street.
“The town and event organizers do a good job of keeping it clean but with 100-200,000 people, trash is bound to escape and that is where we hope to make a difference, working along the docks and shoreline to collect anything that got away,” Jessica Holleman with Ocean Friendly Establishments said in a release.
The organizations hosting the event are all working to remove litter and educate the public.
Bogue Banks Surfrider is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network, Bogue Banks Surfrider is our local chapter.
Ocean Friendly Establishments is an initiative that recognizes restaurants who only give straws upon request. Around 500 million straws are thrown out every day in the United States and it is their mission to bring awareness to this growing problem.
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Carteret Big Sweep works to educate the public on litter and take action by doing their part to clean up, one cleanup at a time.
Holleman added that she hopes visitors attending the Seafood Festival would also help with preventing litter by taking their recycling to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores recycling center at Big Rock Station.
“Reducing should always be the first line of defense. Limiting lids, straws and other to-go ware makes a huge difference, but at an event like this options are limited, so the next steps of reuse and recycle come in,” she explained. “And with that, I hope attendees of the Seafood festival this year will bring their own bottle or reusable silverware and be sure to use the Aquarium’s recycling center located at the Big Rock dock during the festival. Any and all help is appreciated to keep our oceans beautiful”
