Brunswick County property owners and residents can dispose of everything but regular household trash and hazardous waste at no charge next week.

The county landfill in Bolivia is accepting during Free Cleanup Week scheduled for Monday through Saturday metal, tires, electronics, latex paint, clothing, shoes, used oil, oil filters, antifreeze, gasoline, fluorescent bulbs, used cooking oil, smoke detectors, household batteries, and yard debris.

Located at 172 Landfill Road, landfill hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Participants must show proof of Brunswick County property ownership or residency. Businesses and commercial vehicles will be charged normal tipping fees.

A full list of accepted items on the Accepted Items and Tipping Fees webpage.

North Carolina Department of Transportation officials are kicking off this year’s spring litter sweep this weekend.

The biannual statewide roadside litter removal initiative, ​​usually held last two weeks of April and September, encourages residents to join efforts in their community to help clean up North Carolina’s roadways. 

The 2026 spring litter sweep begins Saturday and ends April 25.

While NCDOT does not assign specific dates, groups or individuals can contact for recommendations their NCDOT County Maintenance Yard office​ or local coordinator for NCDOT’s Litter Management Program, who are responsible for managing anti-litter programs, such as Adopt-A-Highway and Litter Sweep, in their assigned counties.

NCDOT does provide cleanup supplies, such as reversible orange-blue trash bags, gloves and orange safety vests, that can be obtained from the volunteer’s county maintenance yard or through the local coordinator.

Organizers are asking volunteers that find anything unusual or interesting during the litter sweep cleanup, use the hashtag, #StrangeLitter on social media​.​​

More details and a frequently asked questions are on NCDOT’s website.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has received funding to remove a dozen abandoned and derelict vessels from waters in Carteret, Chowan, Hyde, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

BoatUS Foundation announced last week that the Coastal Federation, along with nine other organizations spanning five states, one reservation and two territories, has been selected for the funding.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program funds this program administered by BoatUS Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes safe, clean and responsible boating. The Coastal Federation is a nonprofit member organization that works to protect and restore the state’s coast.

“This award provides critical support for removing vessels from working harbors,” Coastal Federation Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis said in a release. “These communities, already facing tight budgets and rising expenses, do not have enough resources or funding to remove and dispose of these vessels. This award will enable the North Carolina Coastal Federation to continue its partnership with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and local governments to remove and dispose of ADVs affecting the livelihood and environment of our coastal communities.”

The award for $550,000 is to go to the removal and disposal of vessels ranging in size from 24-foot recreational boats to commercial fishing trawlers up to 75 feet long out of waters in Edenton, Engelhard, Swan Quarter, Morehead City, Beaufort, Marshallberg, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge and Carolina Beach, according to the nonprofit.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has launched its 12th annual Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, an initiative to locate and remove displaced and potentially dangerous fishing gear from the northeast and central regions of the coast.

The project takes place each year during the annual closure prohibiting the use of crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots in internal coastal waters north of the N.C. 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.

During this year’s closure, which is Jan. 8-31, the 21 commercial fishermen and women hired for the project are to remove from designated areas any lost crab pots and other hazards from specific areas within Marine Patrol Districts 1 and 2.

After collection, recovered crab pots will be recycled as much as possible, and those retrieved from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region will be available for rightful property owners to reclaim post-cleanup. 

“I’m glad to be involved and do my part to keep the sounds clean. It’s important for the blue crab fishery and much more. Without clean waterways, there would be so much at risk,” Joe Speight, a longtime participant from Kitty Hawk, said in a statement.

N.C. Commercial Fishing License Resource Fund Program funds the project.

Coastal Federation Coastal Education Coordinator Sara Hallas Hemilright, who leads the project, stressed the significance of this collaborative effort.

“This project brings together unique partnerships for a common cause of clean waterways. Our commercial fishers are true experts of the local waters, and it’s an honor to work alongside them to ensure the success of this cleanup and recovery effort,” she said in a statement.

More than 24,000 lost crab pots have been recovered since the project began in 2014. Collaborative efforts between commercial watermen and the N.C. Marine Patrol resulted in the recovery last year of 2,136 pots along the entire coast.

To learn more about the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project and its impact over the years, visit program’s the website.

Organizers have put out an all-call for speakers who can share their experiences with responsible and sustainable removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

Hosted by the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 2026 Turning the Tide Summit is set for Dec. 6-9 in New Orleans.

During the summit, there will be panel discussions and keynote addresses that focus on abandoned and derelict vessels and sustainable disposal solutions for boating-related waste, including fiberglass and shrink-wrap.

Organizers said they are looking for speakers who can share their experience and expertise regarding the following:

• Projects pertaining to abandoned and derelict vessel removals and vessel turn-in programs.
• Projects and efforts that focused on sustainable disposal and recycling solutions for abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.
• Initiatives and/or programs geared towards preventing abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

The deadline to apply online is June 1.

The BoatUS Foundation supports projects selected through their national grant program for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels throughout coastal and marine areas of the United States.

The summit is part of the foundation’s Abandoned and Derelict Vessels Program, which worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to launch on a national database launched last fall to pinpoint locations of abandoned and derelict vessels and track their removal.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is putting out a call for commercial fishers to join the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project taking place in January.

An effort in place since 2014, the nonprofit organization hires commercial fishers to collect crab pots during the annual closure Jan. 1-31 of internal coastal waters north and east of the Highway 58 bridge over Bogue Sound to Emerald Isle to all crab, eel, fish, and shrimp pots.

Commercial watermen and women along the northern and central coast are invited to submit an application through the organization’s website until Dec. 12. Captains must have a valid North Carolina standard commercial fishing license.

The project is scheduled to take place in the southeast region during the closure from March 1 to 15. A call for applicants will go out early next year.

“Every year, crab pots and other fishing gear are lost in our sounds in a variety of ways. Lost gear can get hung up or drift into channels, creating serious hazards for boaters, wildlife, and fishermen,” the organization said in a release.

In partnership with North Carolina Marine Patrol, 2,136 pots were removed in 2025 from select areas on the coast.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Plastic may be cheap to make and convenient to use, but it comes with a staggering economic cost to the United States — possibly more than $1 trillion a year — according to a new report.

The study, released Thursday, estimates that the economic cost of the life cycle of plastic – from how it’s made, to its conversion into products, to its use and disposal – ranges anywhere from $436 billion to $1.1 trillion annually.

That figure is likely a significant underestimate, according to Duke University researchers who authored the report.

“We, from the beginning, wanted to focus on the harms and costs of the entire plastic life cycle, not just focus on plastic pollution,” said Dr. Nancy Lauer, a co-author of the report and staff scientist and lecturing fellow with the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. “That was because there really is this entire life of plastic product that has now-well-documented harms at every single stage that we are paying for. It was important for us to make those harms and those costs more transparent to consumers so that they understand this is not just a problem when plastic escapes into the environment and becomes litter or marine debris.”

The team of researchers was able to explore this concept after the university in 2023 awarded it a small grant. That grant led the researchers to host a workshop in early 2024 that brought together experts from across different fields with experience in analyzing the social costs of plastic from its production to its disposal.

Those experts were given a list of studies examining economic costs associated with plastic’s life cycle compiled and initially reviewed by a team of graduate students. The experts then advised researchers on what categories of studies were missing from that list and whether there was additional research that could be examined.

In the end, researchers reviewed 13 existing studies focusing on plastic’s harms and costs on the environment, human health, and the economy.

The report breaks down the economic impacts of plastics by several categories, from greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic production to human health effects.

The largest cost, by far, is human exposure to toxic chemicals in plastics.

Researchers estimate that increased disease and mortality from plastics use is between $410 billion and $930 billion each year.

“These high costs are driven largely by the value of IQ loss and reduced productivity associated with exposure to plastic activities,” the report states.

Exposure to chemicals such as phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, bisphenol A, or BPA, and those found in flame retardants are linked to a host of adverse health outcomes, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, reproductive disorders and neurological damage.

Lauer explained that only within the last couple of years studies on the economic impacts of human health-associated harms from plastics use have “really taken off.”

“So that was certainly a category that we, in those initial searches and before the workshop, did not have as great of a handle on, but that research has just really continued to take off in these last two years or so,” she said.

And while studies of the economic effect on human health have come a long way, Lauer said there’s still a long way to go.

“The studies that we found document the harms and costs from exposure to just a tiny fraction of the chemicals that are in plastic. There’s thousands of chemicals in plastic, several of which have known health effects, and several of which we don’t know enough about to know if they have health effects,” she said.

There is also lack of research on the cumulative effects on human health from chemical mixtures in plastics.

“If we take in a plastic particle, we’re not just taking in one or two chemicals, we’re taking in that mixture of chemicals,” Lauer said. “How those chemicals interact together to spur health impacts, we don’t have a good sense of that at this time.”

The report highlights other research gaps, including economic costs associated with plastic recycling and incineration, the effect of plastic on property values, and the cost associated with loss of terrestrial environment.

“When plastics get into the environment, often our first thought is when it ends up as marine debris and the harms that it causes in the ocean, entangling animals and creating these great garbage patches that need to be cleaned up,” Laure said. “Plastics also impact the terrestrial environment. They get into streams and lakes, along our roadsides, and studies have documented that plastics also cause harm to terrestrial animals like invertebrates and freshwater fish. But, there’s not estimates in the literature for that loss of terrestrial ecosystem services in the same way that the literature has begun to document the cost of the loss of marine ecosystem services.”

According to the report, the estimated cost of the loss of marine ecosystem services ranges from $1.4 billion to $112 billion a year.

Other categories and estimated annual costs detailed in the report include the following:

• Greenhouse gas emissions produced from fossil fuel extraction and manufacturing: $6.4 billion to $15.9 billion.
• Increased disease and mortality from oil and gas extraction: $2.9 billion to $31.9 billion.
• Landfill disposal: $2.9 billion.
• Plastic litter cleanup: $9.8 billion to $13.3 billion.
• Loss of tourism: $2 billion.
• Damage to fisheries and aquaculture industry: $88 million.
• Damage to marine shipping: $909 million.

Lauer said that a motivation to make these costs more transparent to the consumer is to highlight that, though products we buy that are made of plastic tend to be relatively cheap, “that’s just the price we’re paying right there on the spot.”

“There’s so many other costs that we may not necessarily realize we’re paying when we use that plastic,” she said.

And while plastics are important for certain industries, including the medical industry, “we’re still using a lot of plastic in places that we don’t necessarily need to be,” Lauer said. “The patchwork of state and local laws on the books are important to reduce plastics on that local and state level, and they’re important to have proof of concept and build momentum towards something that is more comprehensive. But I think what that more comprehensive strategy needs to look like is really focusing on reducing plastics at the source, and that can be through phasing out needless plastics.”

Reprinted from Island Free Press.

Debris from five oceanfront home collapses continues to cover the shoreline in Buxton as the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) moves forward with a coordinated cleanup response, despite the ongoing federal shutdown.

The public is advised to avoid the beach south of Old Lighthouse Road, where pilings, broken construction materials, and household debris remain scattered along the surf zone and are shifting with each tide, creating dangerous conditions.

Beach access from the north end of Buxton to near ORV Ramp 43 remains closed. 

Tuesday’s collapses sent debris across National Seashore property and into nearby neighborhoods, where a significant portion of debris has reached private property inland. Dare County has previously contracted private debris removal crews to assist along Old Lighthouse Road after earlier home collapses in September and October, and similar support is anticipated as the latest cleanup continues.

Meanwhile, CHNS crews are conducting emergency, safety-focused cleanup operations and maintaining limited public access where possible, despite ongoing federal service limitations.

“We’re continuing to respond in an emergency fashion to help maintain public access to general areas,” said CHNS Superintendent David Hallac. “Most of our staff are working to protect the property of the seashore.”

Tuesday’s incidents mark the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th oceanfront home collapses on Hatteras Island since mid-September, which all occurred in Buxton except for one collapse in Rodanthe.

Homeowners are technically responsible for the cleanup of their property debris, but cleanup efforts often involve a combination of private contractors, county resources, local volunteers, and the National Park Service.

Hallac noted that while some of the 15 affected Buxton property owners have requested special use permit applications to help remove debris on Seashore lands, “they have not attempted to clean up on any National Seashore property south of the village, to my knowledge.” The situation differs somewhat from recent 2024 and 2025 collapses in Rodanthe, where homeowners — in several cases — undertook extensive cleanup initiatives along miles of shoreline.

Conditions remain hazardous in the impacted area, with sharp debris, exposed nails, buried pilings, and unstable materials continuing to wash in and out with the surf. Officials warn that the beachfront remains unsafe and urge the public to avoid the area until further notice while cleanup crews work to remove debris and stabilize access.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review partners with Island Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Dare County is going to cover the cost for its debris-removal contractor to make one last round on Wednesday to collect the lumber, siding, appliances and other remaining debris from the 10 unoccupied houses that collapsed in recent weeks along the Buxton oceanfront.

The county asks that the private contractors move the debris they’ve collected to the right-of-way along the east side of Old Lighthouse Road in Buxton no later than Wednesday morning. Once placed there, the county’s contractor will collect and dispose of the material.

Dare County had previously coordinated an emergency debris removal with its contractor, Dupon, from Oct. 8 until Oct. 18 after eight unoccupied Buxton homes collapsed into the ocean between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 because of severe beach erosion caused by a strong coastal storm, officials said Tuesday.

“This initial cleanup effort was conducted as an emergency response to an unprecedented situation in order to protect public safety and facilitate a timely cleanup of the affected area; however, it is not financially feasible for Dare County to continue to provide debris removal services for private properties,” county officials said, adding that property owners will be responsible for working with their private contractors to coordinate any debris removal going forward.

“Dare County appreciates the cooperation and understanding of the affected homeowners, their contractors and the Hatteras Island community as this final debris collection effort is completed,” officials continued.

Another unoccupied oceanfront house collapsed in Buxton over the weekend, bringing the total to 11 to fall on the Outer Banks since Sept. 16, according to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The house that fell into the Atlantic Saturday night was at 46006 Cottage Ave., according to the seashore’s “Threatened Oceanfront Structures” webpage. The seashore, under the National Park Service, manages the beaches.

On Sunday afternoon, the house owner’s contractor demolished the remainder of the structure, which had remained mostly intact except for some debris and pilings that scattered along the beach, according to an Island Free Press report published Sunday.

About 20 National Park Service staff were to begin on Monday clearing a 2.5-mile section of shoreline from Cape Point to the Buxton Formerly Used Defense Site at the end of Old Lighthouse Road.

The house that collapsed Saturday is the fourth on the same street to fall since last month. The first three collapsed within 45 minutes of each other, along with two on Tower Circle Road, starting at 2 p.m. Sep. 30. Tower Circle Road had two more houses give way, one on Oct. 1 and another Oct. 2, and then a house collapsed in Rodanthe Oct. 3.

The National Park Service has continued to update the Threatened Oceanfront Structures webpage as houses fall since the government shutdown went into effect Oct. 1. The lapse in federal appropriations resulted in most National Park Service sites only partially opening and being operated by those who are considered essential, while the rest have been furloughed.

NEWPORT — The 2025 hurricane season is the first since the state’s building code reinstated standards for residential docks and piers. In an effort to help local governments and coastal property owners better understand these new building codes, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has compiled a comprehensive guide, the first of its kind in the state.

Coastal Advocate Kerri Allen with the Coastal Federation explained the addition of these standards could help reduce harmful marine debris, since the majority of debris found post-storms has been attributed to poorly constructed docks and piers.

“The majority of the debris we see after storms comes from broken-up docks and piers that were never built to withstand serious weather,” Allen said. “These new codes give us a real opportunity to protect our coastlines, our wildlife, and our neighbors from the impacts of that debris.”

Building to code is essential for several reasons. First, it enhances safety by reducing the risk of injury and structural failure. Code-compliant structures are also designed for long-term durability, helping them better withstand high winds, storm surge, and sea level rise. Legal compliance is another critical factor, as adhering to building codes helps avoid costly fines or permit issues.

From a financial perspective, investing in a resilient dock can save homeowners up to $100,000 over 35 years by reducing the need for major repairs and replacements. Equally important, code-compliant construction demonstrates environmental responsibility by helping prevent marine debris and protect sensitive coastal ecosystems.

“If you’re investing in a dock, do it right the first time,” Allen added. “Work with a qualified marine contractor and engineer who knows the local conditions and can guide you through the permitting process. Cutting corners may save money up front, but it usually ends in expensive damage, not to mention environmental harm.”

Allen emphasized that most people don’t immediately think of their dock when they consider safety or environmental impact, but they should. “It’s easy to overlook, but your dock might be one of the most important things you can build responsibly. This is one of the best ways waterfront property owners can reduce their footprint and protect their community,” said Allen.

5 Steps to Build a Code-Compliant Dock

1. Hire Qualified Professionals Choose a licensed marine contractor and engineer with strong references and coastal experience. Jobs over $40,000 require licensed professionals in North Carolina
2. Design with Compliance in Mind Ensure your design complies with the North Carolina Building Code (Section R327) and the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) regulations, as well as any local requirements.
3. Select the Right Materials Use weather-resistant, marine-grade materials (e.g., composite decking, treated lumber, galvanized fasteners) and avoid cheap or untreated wood, especially near seawater.
4. Monitor Construction Have your engineer inspect progress to ensure the structure is built as designed and keep documentation of any changes or inspections.
5. Final Inspection & Certification Secure a final inspection from your local authority and keep copies of all permits, plans, and approvals for future reference.

This work was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program. You can read the full guide here or by visiting the Coastal Federation’s website, https://www.nccoast.org/resource/resilient-docks-piers-toolkit/.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Dare County’s debris removal contractor will begin collecting Wednesday the tons of debris that resulted from a spate of oceanfront houses that collapsed within the last week, ahead of the bad weather forecast for this weekend.

County commissioners during their regular meeting Monday in Manteo discussed the aftermath left behind when eight houses in Buxton and one in Rodanthe fell between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, littering Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches with lumber, furniture, insulation, siding, nails and other debris for nearly 20 miles.

County Manager Bobby Outten explained that the intention was to wait until next week to bring the contractor in but decided to start sooner because of the impending weather.

“Let’s get those contractors in there to get finished taking the debris that’s there now and get it to the road so we can get it out,” Outten said. “And then we’ll deal with the weekend on Monday. We’ll see where we are. If there’s more houses and there’s more debris, then we can get the contractor back down here.”

Assistant County Manager Dustin Peele explained to the commission that last week he saw a “substantial amount of debris” at the right-of-way of Old Lighthouse Road, the designated area for private contractors to deliver what they cleaned up. The county’s contractor will pick up the debris from there starting Wednesday.

The debris field in Rodanthe was heavy for the first few miles, and then it tapered off, stretching approximately 18 miles north to Avon, Chairman Bob Woodard said in his opening remarks.

He explained that the total assessed value of these nine houses as of 2025 was $5,457,200. The houses were built between 1973 and 1998, and vary in size from about 1,130 square feet to 2,188 square feet.

One of the nine property owners has a mailing address in Dare County, three have property owners somewhere else in North Carolina, three have Virginia addresses, and two have Maryland addresses.

Woodard thanked Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac, who is working with a limited staff because of the government shutdown, for the cleanup that’s already taken place in Rodanthe and Buxton over the weekend.

“Ocean overwash and hazardous conditions from Thursday through Tuesday are potential,” Woodard said Monday. “As you know, today starts another high tide situation that could bring some more damage to both the Buxton area and Rodanthe with knocking down some potential other residences. So we just have to hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed.”

Brian Harris with the Buxton Civic Association reiterated during the public comment period that nine houses have already fallen and there’s “13 more in the ocean” that could fall.

Harris said that with the weather forecast for this weekend being absolutely horrible, he expects three or four more houses to fall as a result.

“There’s just no way around it,” he continued, adding they’ve “got to be smart with this nourishment and, you know, retreating is definitely the answer. You know these houses got to go.”

Harris, who told the commission that he is the official lobbyist for the association, intends to lobby in Washington, D.C., for funding to buy the houses.

He thanked the county for the work taking place to help the communities, adding “we’ll get through this, but Buxton is about to look a lot different. It already does.”

Reprinted from an Island Free Press report dated Oct. 6.

Cleanup efforts are continuing this week in Buxton and Rodanthe following the collapse of nine oceanfront homes last week — eight in Buxton and one in Rodanthe — as National Park Service crews, area organizations, and volunteers work to remove large volumes of debris scattered along the shoreline.

In Buxton, cleanup teams have already hauled away roughly 140 truckloads of debris from the beach as of Sunday, said Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent David Hallac.

Large piles remain, including one near the former Navy base site that may contain a similar amount of material. Another pile near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse measures about 100 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 5 feet high. Crews have been separating plastic, large lumber, and small lumber to facilitate disposal, and Dare County has reported eight septic system washouts in the Buxton collapse area.

“The odors from sewage were noticeable in several beachfront locations,” Hallac said. “And north of the jetty, petroleum odors were so strong on Sunday that we made the decision not to clean up in that area for safety reasons.” Petroleum smells were also strong on Saturday, but had briefly diminished enough to allow heavy equipment into the area.

Related: ‘Messy situation’: Buxton beach closed after 8th house falls

The cleanup zone in Buxton remains challenging due to its dense neighborhood layout, which caused debris to become trapped between collapsed structures, pilings, and sandbags when the homes fell. This has created a more concentrated debris field compared to Rodanthe.

“In Buxton, the water line was so high when these houses collapsed, and the area is so dense, that many of the homes and pilings and sandbags trapped this debris,” Hallac said.

Hallac emphasized that National Park Service crews have been working long hours daily alongside local partners to make progress.

“I’m extremely proud of all the National Park Service staff who have been working on this, some for hours a day, every day, and extraordinary thanks for the incredible efforts of the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, Cape Hatteras United Methodist Men, and many community members who have come up to help,” he said.

In Rodanthe, the debris field from last week’s single home collapse extended around 18 miles, although most of that distance contained light debris, such as polyester filling, carpet padding, and small bits of wood that washed south to around Ramp 32. The initial few miles nearest the collapse site contained heavier material.

Cleanup in Rodanthe has benefited from a swift response by the homeowner, who began working on the beach the morning after the collapse and has remained actively involved. “He has worked continuously, and we worked as a team with him,” Hallac noted.

Over the weekend, the Rodanthe homeowner used an excavator to remove the remnant structure from the beach, which prevented additional debris from washing away. The North Carolina Beach Buggy Association also played a major role in the Rodanthe cleanup effort, according to Hallac.

While significant progress has been made, continued cleanup is expected in both locations.

In Rodanthe, National Park Service crews will use a mechanized beach rake to remove debris that has become buried in the sand. In Buxton, seashore staff are assessing remaining debris south of Ramp 43 to develop the next phase of the cleanup strategy.

Beachgoers are urged to use extreme caution in these areas, as nails, sharp debris, and other hazardous materials may be buried beneath the sand.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Update 11 a.m. Thursday: The seventh oceanfront house in Buxton to collapse in less than 48 hours fell around 8 p.m. Wednesday at 46207 Tower Circle Road, Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials reported on its website. This remains a developing story.

Update 10 a.m. Wednesday: An unoccupied house collapsed overnight at 46203 Tower Circle Road, bringing the total to six since 2 p.m. Tuesday, per an update from the National Park Service on its threatened oceanfront structures webpage.

Original report of 5 p.m. Tuesday follows below:

Five unoccupied houses in Buxton collapsed into the Atlantic within 45 minutes of each other Tuesday afternoon, and officials warned that there could be more because of conditions associated with two hurricanes offshore.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials said that, as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, they were unaware of any bodily injuries associated with the collapse of the structures on Cottage Avenue and the two on Tower Circle Road.

Including the five that fell between 2 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, 17 privately owned houses have collapsed since 2020.

The entire beachfront from northern Buxton to the northern section of off-road vehicle, or ORV, ramp 43, is closed for public safety. ORV drivers using ramp 38 should avoid traveling to the south and anyone using ramp 43 should avoid traveling north.

The street numbers for the structures on Cottage Avenue are 46001, 46002 and 46007, and 46209 and 46211 for those on Tower Circle Road.

The National Park Service urges visitors to avoid the closed areas where the structures collapsed and to use caution along the beach south of the sites because of potentially hazardous debris.

“This is an ongoing incident; further collapses are possible due to the ocean conditions,” national seashore officials said.

The National Weather Service office in Newport, in a 3:45 p.m. Tuesday briefing, forecast a long duration and impactful swell event for coastal North Carolina associated with Hurricane Humberto, with added impacts from a strengthening Hurricane Imelda.

“Coastal flooding impacts have already begun and are expected to continue. We still expect the peak impacts to be focused through Thursday, with the greatest impacts occurring around high tide Wednesday afternoon,” forecasters said. Dangerous surf conditions are expected through the rest of the week.

The park service said plans are to announce on the national seashore’s threatened oceanfront structures webpage, go.nps.gov/cahatos, any additional collapses during the storm period.

The Holden Beach Turtle Patrol held its first-ever beach sweep July 19 with volunteers picking up 120 pounds of trash off the Brunswick County island’s ocean shoreline.

Each of the 40 volunteers who turned out for the event spent between 40 minutes to an hour collecting trash, gathering a host of plastics from commercial store bags, food wrappers and bottles to cigarette butts, paper and cardboard scraps, Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program member Donna McGowan said in an email.

The beach sweep was hosted during the peak of sea turtle nesting season, which generally runs from May through the end of October.

“It is important to keep Holden Beach clean and safe for everyone, but especially for nesting female sea turtles and their new hatchlings,” a patrol release states. “Sea turtles crawling along the beach can be impeded by trash and or worse they can become ensnared in it and die.”

There are currently 33 sea turtle nests on Holden Beach’s ocean shoreline, down 64 from last year, according to McGowan.

“Nesting at our local beaches has been low this year,” she said in the email. “Sea turtles don’t lay every year, rather they lay every 2-3 years so maybe it’s normal to have a low year. August is a busy month with new nests and hatching for existing nests. We are hopeful to get a few more nests before the season ends.”

Another beach sweep is being planned for September. Details for that sweep will be announced at a later date.

The nonprofit hosts informational programs about sea turtles every Wednesday through August at the Holden Beach Chapel.

Litter Free Land and Sea is looking for volunteers to help clean up Radio Island after the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

The cleanup is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Radio Island Public Beach Access, 501 Marine Drive in Beaufort.

Organizers ask volunteers to register ahead of the cleanup using the online form.

Bags, gloves, grabbers, and snacks will be provided. Volunteers are encouraged to bring a reusable water bottle.

All volunteers will receive a Litter Free Land and Sea tumbler pouch gift for their effort.

Litter Free Land and Sea is a county-led initiative designed to support volunteer clean-ups, facilitate business engagement and communicate the efforts of waste contractors to maintain the beauty and cleanliness of Carteret County.  

For more information, email litterfreelandandsea@gmail.com or visit the website.

Debbie Swick has been waging a single-handed campaign describing how dangerous a balloon is after it has been released.

“I promise you, with every fiber of my being, helium balloons do not go to heaven,” she said and suggested alternatives.

“Blow bubbles, plant a tree, scatter wildflower seeds,” the Southern Shores resident continued.

“There’s so many other things that you can do besides releasing balloons,” adding, “I would not tell people not to celebrate. I would not tell people not to mourn those that have passed on.”

For over a year, Swick has been, in her words, “a one-woman crusader.”

She describes herself as a “devout Christian” who believes “this is God’s planet, and we’re just visitors here, and let’s leave it a little better than we found it.”

Something happened to her one morning over a year ago when “God spoke to me that morning when I watched this balloon release on TV.”

Since then, she has been indefatigable, writing letters to every county manager and board in the state, innumerable municipalities, visiting counties and towns to talk about the dangers of balloons. And learning some things along the way.

She describes the impact on marine animals and wildlife, including the 2023 death of a juvenile Gervais’ beaked whale beached on Emerald Isle. The whale starved to death after a plastic balloon became trapped in its digestive tract.

“I tell everybody, speak to our commercial fishermen, ask anybody that goes out in the ocean and ask them how many balloons they encounter. It’s staggering,” Swick said.

Yet after speaking to Camden County commissioners, a new danger emerged, telling Coastal Review that a commissioner, “was saying how a farmer was complaining that he wrapped (a balloon) around his combine and broke this very expensive piece of equipment.”

And now, after months of lobbying, letter writing, cajoling and presentations, it may be that her efforts will be rewarded.

North Carolina Senate Bill 20, “An Act to Prohibit Certain Mass Balloon Releases,” filed Jan. 29, 2025, currently is in the senate’s rules and operations committee.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, told Coastal Review that there is “unanimous support on both sides of the aisle, both chambers, manufacturers, retailers, associations, everyone has come out in support of it.”

Hanig explained early this month that the bill would likely to stay in committee as the senate worked on their version of the budget, which was introduced April 17.

“We’ve been dealing with the budget process, so I’m hoping that over the next couple of weeks, things will start getting pulled out of Rules and start moving to committees,” Hanig said.

Cosponsored by Sen. Gale Adcock, D-Wake, and Woodson Bradley, D-Mecklenburg, the bill does appear to have the bipartisan support Hanig touted.

Adcock, Hanig said, “was a senator I worked with on several piece of legislation. We served together in the House. We have a great relationship. And Woodson Bradley, she’s new this year, she said she wanted to be on (the bill).”

Underscoring the support for the bill, Adcock wrote in an email that “I heard from a dozen or so of (her district’s) constituents after the bill was filed, and after I had signed on to the bill.”

The bill is short, less than 250 words, and straightforward in its language.

“The General Assembly finds that the release into the atmosphere of balloons inflated with lighter-than-air gases poses a harm to the scenic beauty of the State and a danger and nuisance to wildlife and marine animals,” the bill reads.

The bill includes fines for releasing balloons, and the fines can be substantial at $250 per balloon.

For Swick, that’s important. Her hope is that people will look at that and realize, “I’m not even going to chance it, because at $250 per balloon,” she said. “Four balloons is $1,000. I don’t have that kind of money to part with.”

As she continues to work to bring awareness to the issue, Swick said she has found a wide spectrum of interests supporting her efforts, including the Surfrider Foundation, and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

“We have the CRC, which is the Coalition for Responsible celebrations, who works directly with Dollar Tree and Party City,” she said.

Even the balloon industry “has taken on a responsible attitude about balloons. They understand their negative impact on the environment, so they’re joining with groups like me to educate and say, ‘Listen, enjoy your balloons, but dispose of them responsibly.’”

That the legislation is enjoying bipartisan support is, to Swick, part of the backing she has seen as she has worked on the issue.

“We waste so much time fighting each other,” she said. “This is one of those things where it shouldn’t be, ‘your side, my side.’ This is for the good of all people and all things living,” she said.

Volunteers are needed to help clean up Carteret County this month.

The Litter Free Land and Sea initiative is hosting its annual countywide cleanup day 9-11 a.m. Saturday, April 26, at sites across the county.

“The event offers a chance for residents to give back, connect with neighbors and coworkers, and help protect the environment,” organizers said.

Check-in begins at 8:45 a.m. at any of the following cleanup sites:

• Atlantic Beach boardwalk, 201 West Atlantic Blvd.
• Carteret Community College’s EDC Building, Morehead City.
• Eastern Park in Smyrna.
• Emerald Isle Western Ocean Regional Access, 9803 Louise Ave.
• Fort Benjamin Park, 100 McQueen Ave., Newport.
• Grayden Paul Park, 718 Front St., Beaufort.
• Peletier Town Hall, 1603 Highway 58, Peletier.

Gloves, trash bags, safety gear and cleanup tools will be provided while supplies last. Refreshments and snacks will be available but volunteers are encouraged to bring their own water and wear comfortable shoes. The cleanup is rain or shine.

To ensure enough supplies, individuals and groups must register by April 24 at www.litterfreelandandsea.com.

Volunteers participating in the cleanup will be eligible for prizes, including Litter Free Land and Sea merchandise and eco-friendly gifts. Winners will be announced at each site.

The county government, Crystal Coast Economic Development, Carteret County Sheriff’s Office and community partners collaborate on the program the promotes litter prevention, public education and environmental stewardship.

The 20 commercial fishermen and women hired for this year’s Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project headed out Wednesday to begin collecting crab pots from the northeastern and central coasts.

In its 11th year, the North Carolina Coastal Federation coordinates the project, which aims to locate and remove displaced fishing gear that can pose a threat to boaters, wildlife and the fishing community.

The 2025 project is focusing on Marine Patrol Districts 1 and 2, the waters between the Virginia-North Carolina border and the N.C. Highway 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.

Recovered crab pots will be recycled as much as possible. The pots retrieved from the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound region will be available for rightful property owners to reclaim after the project ends, the organization said.

The project takes place each year during the annual closure Jan. 1-31 that prohibits using crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots.

Since beginning in 2014, more than 23,000 lost crab pots have been recovered. Last year, the combined efforts of the commercial fishers and North Carolina Marine Patrol resulted in 2,463 pots being recovered across along the coast.

The state Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program helps fund the project.

“I’m glad to be involved and do my part to keep the sounds clean. It’s important for the blue crab fishery and much more. Without clean waterways, there would be so much at risk,” Chris Lamb, a long-time project participant from Belhaven, said in a statement.

To learn more about the project and its impact over the years, visit the website.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

The sixth house to fall into the ocean in Rodanthe this year collapsed Thursday night, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials have temporarily closed the beach there to protect the public from the associated hazardous debris.

The National Park Service notified the public early Friday that the unoccupied structure at 23241 Surf Side Drive had crumbled into the ocean.

“Efforts to respond to and begin cleanup operations is currently limited due to severe weather conditions and the closure of N.C. Highway 12 between the Basnight Bridge and Rodanthe,” officials said, adding that they are communicating with the owners.

A look back: ‘Total mess’ after third Rodanthe house in four days falls

Visitors are being urged to avoid the beach and ocean for potentially many miles to the south of Rodanthe because of hazardous debris.

Threatened, unoccupied structures at G A Kohler Court and Sea Oats Drive are being monitored during the severe weather affecting the Outer Banks this weekend.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation will accept applications from commercial fishermen and women until Dec. 15 for the upcoming effort to collect lost and abandoned gear in the state’s sounds.

The nonprofit organization hires the extra hands for the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project that takes place in January, when internal coastal waters are closed annually to all crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots north and east of the Highway 58 bridge over Bogue Sound to Emerald Isle.

Application can be filled out and submitted on the Coastal Federation’s website. Captains must have a valid North Carolina standard commercial fishing license.

The 2025 project begins in January in parts of Marine Patrol districts 1 and 2, the northeast and central regions of the coast, respectively. Marine Patrol District 3, which covers the southeast region of the coast, closes from March 1-15. Recruitment for applications for District 3 will take place early next year.

Once the pots are collected, they are recycled to the best extent possible. Crab pots that are recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds during the project will be available for the rightful property owners to reclaim in early February.

The organization has led the project since 2014. In 2024, 2,463 pots from select areas within three Marine Patrol Districts were removed.

This project is funded by the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program funds the project intended to improve habitat and water quality and support coastal economies.

Sara Hallas Hemilright, Coastal Federation education and outreach director, said in a release that she is grateful for the community partnerships that enable this program to continue to clean up the waterways and create opportunities for work during the winter.

“I’m appreciative of the strong partnerships we’ve formed with commercial fishers over the years. Their expertise in our local waterways is what continues to make this project successful. Their strong work ethic is essential to endure long, cold days working on the water in January. I’m proud to be involved in this project and see so many positive impacts as a result,” Hemilright said.

This project is part of the Coastal Federation’s overall effort to ensure the North Carolina coast is free of marine debris. The organization will be working on preventative strategies in the coming year as part of a major goal to create a coastal environment free of marine debris.

Deep-diving whales that rely on sound rather than vision to hunt in the ocean’s darkest depths are confusing plastic marine debris for prey, new findings suggest.

For the study, “Acoustic signature of plastic marine debris mimics the prey items of deep-diving cetaceans,” researchers from Duke University as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, compared the way sound bounces off plastic that is floating underwater to that of typical whale prey, in this case, squid and squid beaks.

It is widely assumed that seals and toothed whales mistake plastic for food because of appearance, particularly plastic bags and films that look like squid and jellyfish, according to the study, but that doesn’t explain why deep-diving species like sperm whales and beaked whales that use echolocation are ingesting plastic. To echolocate, the whale emits sounds that reflect off an object. The whale then interprets the object’s target strength, or measurement of the intensity of the sound’s echo.

“Assuming these animals are ingesting plastic at depth and not at/near the surface, they are consuming plastic without visually identifying it. Deep-diving toothed whales may therefore be misinterpreting acoustic cues when echolocating; presumably plastic’s acoustic signature resembles that of primary prey items, driving plastic consumption,” the study states.

Researchers for the new study found that 100% of the plastics they tested that are typically found in stomachs of stranded whales — plastic bags, rope and bottles — have either similar or stronger acoustic target strengths, which is how strong a sound wave is reflected off an object, compared to that of squid.

The findings support the study’s hypothesis that deep-diving whales are consuming plastic because of “a misperception of acoustic signals.”

Duke University doctoral candidate Greg Merrill Jr. led the peer-reviewed study published a few weeks ago in Science Direct.

From California, Merrill has been at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort for the past few years to examine the impacts of microplastics and large plastic marine debris on whales.

Merrill graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor’s in biological science in 2014. He then pursued his master’s at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he worked with northern fur seals, trying to understand how climate change was impacting their breeding success. That experience planted the seed for this study.

While he was working on his master’s, Merrill said he spent many months on the remote Pribilof Islands of Alaska in the middle of the Bering Sea where the threatened northern fur seal breeds.

“All too common a sight was a seal entangled in plastic debris, such as packing bands and discarded fishing net. The animals often died as a result. This motivated me to study the impacts of plastic pollution on other marine mammals like the deep-diving sperm whales and beaked whales off the North Carolina coast,” he said.

Merrill explained that these animals, in particular, hunt especially deep in the ocean where there is no light to see. Instead, they rely on echolocation, or biosonar.

“In other words, they use sound waves to locate and identify food. Because we know from autopsies of stranded whales that they are eating plastic, it occurred to me that plastic may be causing whales to misinterpret their echolocation signals. So, we wanted to see if that was true,” Merrill explained.

He said in simple terms, the study was to see if plastic in the water confused echolocating whales into believing it was instead food.

“We collected plastic trash from the beach and then blasted those objects and whale prey with various sound waves at sea using an instrumented called an echosounder mounted to the bottom of our research vessel. The plastic objects were strung up on monofilament fishing line and held underneath the instrument while the measurements were recorded,” he said.

An echosounder is a device that uses sound waves to measure the water depth or where objects are in the water. The hull-mounted echosounder tested three different sounds at the same frequencies of whale clicks.

“Based on the measurements we recorded, plastic has similar or stronger echoes than the whale prey items we tested. The way an object reflects sound depends on what it’s made of,” Merrill explained, for example what the plastic is made of or (its) thickness. “Plastic unfortunately ‘sounds’ the same as whale food.”

The study notes that plastic pollution in the oceans is pervasive and increasing with more than 1,200 marine species known to ingest plastic debris. For marine mammals, there are hundreds of examples of whales, seals, sea lions and manatees “consuming plastic, ingestion of which constitutes a major threat to individual health,” the study states. “Consequences of macroplastic ingestion include abrasion and perforation of tissues, infection, reduced reproduction and growth, suffocation, clogging the baleen filter false satiation, occlusion of the gastrointestinal tract, starvation, and ultimately death.”

The finding underscores just how complex the plastic pollution issue is, Merrill said, adding the most common plastics found in whale stomachs are plastic bags, single-use packaging, and fishing gear such as nets, ropes, and lines.

“I’m not sure many people would have ever imagined that the way something sounds could have such big consequences as affecting large whales who hunt so very far away from human activities. The scale of the plastic pollution problem is enormous, a global issue that requires policy action at the level of local all the way to international governments. And it is having so many impacts on our planet and on human health, Merrill said.

He encourages “anyone who cares about this issue” to contact their elected officials and let them know you want to see action on this front.

Michael Cove, a conservation ecologist and mammologist, told Coastal Review that “this research was fascinating and provides some much-needed insights into how and why marine mammals might intentionally ingest plastic waste that could severely impact them and ultimately lead to their deaths.”

The research curator for the mammalogy at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, Cove explained that so much of our perception of food and foraging is based on visual cues, because humans use their eyes to find food, “and that has been shown in research with seabirds and sea turtles, but many deep-sea-diving marine mammals are going off of sound through echolocation and not sight.”

Studies like Merrill’s show that there’s still a lot to learn about how some of the sperm and beaked whales forage. In many cases, there’s still much to understand about what they forage because they are feeding at such great depths, Cove explained. He has often assumed that most plastic consumption is incidental or intentional based on visual cues, citing Mylar balloons looking like squid as an example.

But this study, “points to intentional consumption of plastics based on their sound, which spells trouble for deep sea diving whales since the accumulation of plastic in our oceans continues to increase and it persists for thousands of years.”

Cove said that this work highlights and renews that calls to end balloon releases, especially in coastal areas, should be revisited and policies to reduce plastics entering marine food webs will be critical to maintaining maintain diverse marine mammal communities into the future.

“After all, marine mammals along with sharks and large fishes make up the top of the food chain, which largely regulate the lower trophic levels (links in the chain) and the loss of any species and that top-down regulation can have cascading effects throughout the community that could even influence fisheries and ecosystem health processes well beyond the deep ocean,” he said.

Coastal Review will not publish Monday in observance of Veterans Day.

North Carolina Division of Coastal Management officials are in the process of determining priority areas and strategies for the 2026-2030 cycle of the Section 309 Assessment and Strategy, and are asking for public input.

The assessment and strategy is a process to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of a coastal management program using guidelines outlined in Section 309 of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and allows for additional funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The division is asking the public to complete its Section 309 Survey available online until Nov. 22.

The division works to protect, conserve and manage the state’s coastal resources through an integrated program of planning, permitting, education and research.

Every five years, coastal programs, like the division, carry out the self-assessments to identify priority issues and enhancement opportunities within nine topic areas, and assess the effectiveness of existing management efforts to address identified issues.

The nine topic areas are wetlands, coastal hazards, public access, marine debris, cumulative and secondary impacts, special area management planning, ocean resources, energy and government facility siting, and aquaculture.

“Stakeholder feedback is an important part of this process and we are looking for your input,” division officials said. “Your input is a key component of this assessment, and we appreciate your time in providing your responses.”

Division officials said they plan to welcome public comments on the draft assessment and strategy document, once it is complete.

A nationwide survey to assess marine debris on all U.S. shorelines is underway.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program announced earlier this week the launch of the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project Nationwide Survey.

Marine debris is a widespread pollution issue that affects ocean, waterways and coastal areas worldwide, and can injure or kill wildlife, degrade habitats, impact important seafood resources, interfere with navigational safety, and negatively affect local economies, according to NOAA and environmental advocates.

The one-year, standalone, nationwide marine debris assessment is in partnership with the Texas-based research company 1stMission LLC.

The survey is to help answer currently unaddressed questions, such as the amount of marine debris on shorelines in in the continental U.S., Caribbean, Alaska, Pacific Islands and Great Lakes at any given time and which regions have more or less debris, officials said.

The project is being funded with more than $3.3 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced Thursday.

“The survey will establish a scientifically-valid assessment of marine debris and the findings will be used to develop marine debris report cards, providing a tool to communicate and compare regional debris estimates across the nation’s shorelines,” NOAA officials said in the announcement.

The nationwide initiative builds on more than a decade of collaborative monitoring efforts with partner agencies, community groups and participants through the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project, as well as the previous effort, National Marine Debris Monitoring Program.

“Monitoring marine debris contributes to our understanding about the amounts, sources, and types of debris, where it accumulates, and if it is changing over time,” officials said.

Data will be publicly available in the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project database and and can be compared to regional marine debris action plans.

The project also is expected to initiate a long-term survey design to identify where and when to survey over the course of 11 years, that, if implemented, would allow for marine debris trend detection.

For more information about the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project Nationwide Survey, visit the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s website. 

Five years after developing and acting on a collaborative approach to preventing and removing marine debris along the coast, those behind the plan met last week to review accomplishments so far and discuss ways to expand the message over the coming five years.

The roughly 20 representatives of state and federal agencies, nonprofit and community organizations, and academia with ties to the 2020-24 North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan spent last Tuesday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Beaufort facility discussing the plan’s background, completed actions, the results from a recent survey and reviewing goals for 2025-29.

The plan is a multiyear collaborative effort of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve, North Carolina Sea Grant, North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch.

Marine debris is a persistent and widespread problem. The human-made products like plastics, metals, rubber, paper, textiles, abandoned fishing gear, and other lost or discarded items littering waterways can negatively impact human and wildlife health.

The Coastal Federation initiated the work in January 2017 when it brought together a leadership team to assess marine debris and debris management along the coast. Between that first meeting and when the plan was released in January 2020, the team met several times, held surveys, and established strategies and actions.

Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis told the participants Tuesday that the nonprofit had been engaged in marine debris projects for over a decade.

“I think everyone, early on, recognized that this is a thorny, complex issue, and it’s of a pretty significant magnitude,” Davis said.

The Coastal Federation, which published Coastal Review, has been working to protect the coast since 1982 and has offices in Wanchese, Newport and Wrightsville Beach.

Understanding that the work cannot be done alone, the Coastal Federation looked at similar efforts by other states and regions, and brought together groups and organizations to develop a marine debris action plan, Davis explained.

With marine debris always being present and the origins being difficult to trace, the organization is considering additional research to tailor policies and programs around efforts that will lead to prevention.

“I think that’s going to take significant collaboration with stakeholders, and it’s going to require some multifaceted solutions,” Davis said. Adding the workshop “is just one stepping stone on the path over the next five years.”

Coastal Federation Education and Outreach Director Sara Hallas said that the nonprofit really became invested in marine debris management in 2014 upon launching its lost fishing gear recovery project. Commercial fishermen are hired to find and retrieve lost crab pots from the state’s waterways early each year, “And we would always plan a volunteer cleanup along with that, to build awareness and engage the community,” Hallas said.

“And then we started looking around and realizing, surely, we’re not the only the organization doing marine debris projects, and surely, we’re not the only ones that are going to be able to clean up all of this marine debris. So how can we be a little bit more comprehensive and a little bit more strategic in our approach to make sure that we’re meeting all the needs of the coast?” she said.

This spurred the first meeting with other organizations involved in marine debris, and the work began, leading to “the first ever action plan for North Carolina in 2020,” Hallas said.

The first statewide plan to address marine debris outlined five major goals, including engaging the public with education, prevention and removal of marine debris and abandoned and derelict vessels, and encouraging research to understand marine debris and its impacts.

While 2020 had its challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic, Hallas said the team was able to continue with the action plan and reached nearly all of its individual action goals.

The current plan detailed 86 individual actions to be taken. Of those, 77.9% have been completed, 11.6% are in progress, and another 4.7% are ongoing, leaving about 5.8% of those items that have not been started as of mid-September.

“Only about five or six items of those 86 actions that we have in our action plan,” Hallas said, adding that for each year of the action plan, the leadership team has released a report that summarizes the highlights and takeaways from each of the major goals.

Working toward prevention, partners have reached more than 27,000 students and 33,000 adults with various education programs, participated in the North Carolina marine debris symposium each year, created marine debris curriculums, and rolled out the Marine Debris Free NC social media campaign.

In terms of removing marine debris, more than 9,000 crab pots have been pulled from waterways, as well as more than 3 million pounds of debris from coastal shorelines, “all just in the past five years,” Hallas said.

Preventing and removing abandoned and derelict vessels is its own category in the plan and has been a hurdle, she said.

“At the launch of the action plan, we saw some of the largest vessel removal in North Carolina history. And since then, that number has continued to grow,” Hallas said.

Since 2019, 343 vessels have been removed, and “a lot of that is thanks to bringing these groups” and resources together to solve the problem. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission helps to maintain the database, and working with these organizations to allocate funding accordingly.

To understand the source of debris, research and assessment has been an important part of this work as well, Hallas said, “so that we’re not just in this endless cycle of cleanup.” One project by North Carolina Sea Grant and N.C. State University was to study the macro- and microplastics coming through the Neuse River into the Pamlico Sound. The team is also looking to increase the marine debris data by encouraging volunteers to log what they pick up in trash collection phone apps.

“But if you can take a second to imagine, if people and wildlife of coastal North Carolina never encountered a marine debris, what would that be like? And that was our initial goal for the action plan,” Hallas said. “How can we achieve to get to this vision?”

N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Central Sites Manager Paula Gillikin explained that the team distributed a survey on marine debris in North Carolina in 2017 and again in 2024, with the same questions. The first survey had 111 respond and the latest saw 49 responses.

One question, Gillikin said, was to ask respondents to rank the goals of the action plan from most important to least important.

“‘Prevent’ came up as most important, followed closely by ‘Remove,” and then “Abandoned and Derelict Vessels’ came out third, and then ‘Research’ came out last,” Gillikin said, acknowledging that research often is ranked a low priority.

Possible actions the group discussed for the next five years include reaching underserved communities and incorporating environmental justice into all goals, working with government entities to improve public policy that prevents marine debris as well as managing abandoned vessels, and different ways to expand educating the public on marine debris.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

Another oceanfront home in Rodanthe collapsed Friday during the early morning hours.

This is the third home on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches to collapse in 2024, and the eighth since 2020.

The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 23001 G A Kohler Court in Rodanthe was built in 1992 and was owned by a resident of Hampton, Virginia. It was unoccupied at the time of the collapse and had a total structure and land tax value of $280,600, according to Dare County records.

National Park Service officials are urging visitors to avoid the beach and stay out of the water near the north end of Rodanthe, and potentially for miles to the south. In addition, the seashore is monitoring an adjacent house that sustained damages because of the house collapse.

Dangerous debris may be present on the beach and in the water to the north and south of the collapse site, which will likely lead to temporary beach closures for public safety.

A debris removal contractor, hired by the property owner, is expected to begin cleanup work Friday. Debris removal activities may also be conducted by National Park Service staff.

Earlier this year, an unoccupied home in the G A Kohler Court area collapsed Aug. 16 and a home at the end of Ocean Drive in Rodanthe collapsed on May 28.

In March 2023, an oceanfront home collapsed at East Point Drive in Rodanthe.

On May 10, 2022, two unoccupied homes located on Ocean Drive, collapsed within a 12-hour period. 

In February 2022 and May 2020, two additional Rodanthe homes in the Ocean Drive vicinity also collapsed into the ocean.

All of these home collapses resulted in a large debris field on Hatteras Island, which was addressed and cleaned up by the National Park Service, local volunteers, and/or contractors enlisted by the homeowners themselves.

No personal injuries were reported in connection with any of the collapses.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review partners with the online publication to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

RODANTHE — Contractors on Monday continued to remove debris strewn along miles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches following the collapse Friday evening of a multilevel, unoccupied beach house into the Atlantic.

No injuries were reported in connection with the collapse. Seashore officials have closed public entry to the beaches from the northern boundary of Rodanthe to the northern end of the 2.4-mile Rodanthe, or “jug handle,” bridge.

The 1,428 square-foot house at 23214 Corbina Drive was built in 1973. The four-bed, two-bath structure used as a vacation rental was sold in 2018 for $339,000, according to real estate websites.

This is the seventh structure since May 2020 to crumble into the ocean in the unincorporated community on Hatteras Island in Dare County.

Cape Hatteras seashore and Pea Island refuge teams coordinated with the owner of the house to manage cleanup, which began around 1 p.m. Saturday.

“The homeowner’s contractor continues to clean up the beach,” Seashore Public Affairs Specialist Mike Barber told Coastal Review Monday. “As of yesterday, debris was spotted approximately 11 miles north of the collapse site in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.”

Park officials said in an update Sunday that several other threatened structures in northern Rodanthe suffered “substantial damage” and they are communicating with the county on a detailed assessment of the associated debris and hazards.

“Coordination will occur between house owners, rental property management companies, and the Seashore once elevated surf conditions subside, and the full extent of damage is known,” officials said.

In Buxton, there is “ongoing erosion and elevated surf conditions” that have resulted in ocean overwash under many homes and into neighborhoods, as well.

“Hazardous debris, broken from beachfront houses, may be present on the beach and in the water. Seashore staff have observed evidence of compromised septic systems; therefore, the Seashore is advising that the public should not go in the water until follow up inspections are made,” officials added Sunday.

The National Park Service has devoted a webpage to the threatened oceanfront structures that border the seashore and action being taken.

North Carolina Department of Transportation officials are calling for extra hands to help with this year’s fall litter sweep.

Scheduled for Sept. 14-28, the biannual event brings together participants to help clear roadside litter.

“Each season, volunteers from all corners of the state come together to clean up our roads, making a tangible difference in the environment and in the lives of their neighbors,” officials said.

Volunteers can request gloves, safety vests, and bags from their area’s NCDOT maintenance offices, which are listed by county on the website.

“Fall is a time of change, and what better way to welcome it than by making our roadsides cleaner and more vibrant,” Roadside Environmental Engineer David Harris said in a statement. “We often talk about the impact of litter, but what’s truly impactful is the dedication of our volunteers. We’re proud of our volunteers who show up every season to make a difference. Their efforts ensure that our state’s beauty is preserved for everyone to enjoy.”

NCDOT maintenance crews dedicate one week to picking up litter and collecting the trash bags filled by volunteers.

The vote to prohibit balloon releases within Dare County’s unincorporated areas was anticlimactic when its commissioners unanimously voted last week to support the ban.

Southern Shores resident Debbie Swick, the force behind the ban, addressed the board before they took up the vote.

When Swick began, she pointed to a large, opaque trash bag filled with pieces of balloons propped against the front of the speaker’s podium.

“This bag was collected by five of us over six months. Just five people (and) there’s several hundred balloons in there,” she said. “The National Park Service last year picked up 1,786 balloons along our 70-mile stretch of coastline.”

Now that the rule is in place, it is illegal to release balloons anywhere along the Outer Banks shoreline, from Duck to Hatteras Village.

The county joins its incorporated towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head in banning balloon releases. Manteo, which is on Roanoke Island, has yet to prohibited releasing balloons, but the town is in Swick’s sights.

Dare County towns are not the only beach towns in the state that have banned releasing balloons. Similar ordinances are in effect in Wrightsville Beach, Topsail Beach, North Topsail Beach and Surf City. Ten states have also banned balloon releases.

For Swick, a member of Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., based on the Outer Banks, and Outer Banks Marine Mammal Stranding Network, banning balloons has become a crusade, and she has created Ban Balloon Release NC to accomplish her goal.

Although she is a one-person movement now, she said that may change over time. 

“I will probably just plug along until I can’t do it by myself and then start looking for more people,” she told Coastal Review.

Coastal North Carolina is just a small part of the problem, she noted.

“You release (the balloon), it’s unretrievable, and it’s going to drift upwards of 1,300 miles from where you release it,” she said, adding the state’s beaches are an ideal location to get the word out about the dangers of balloons in the environment.

“Millions of visitors come from places like Ohio and Kansas and Indiana and Pennsylvania. Balloon releases in their states impact our wildlife and our coastline. So, I’m going to use every opportunity I can to get the word out and educate them,” she said.

Her fears for wildlife are based in science. One of Swick’s arguments for banning balloon releases is that the balloons do not break down in the environment.

Mylar, which is a polyester, can take hundreds of years to completely break down in the environment. Even latex balloons that are marketed as biodegradable take five years or longer to decompose. The strings used hold balloons in place until they are released are generally not biodegradable.

Balloons in the water look similar to the marine life that are part of whales’ diets. Once in the digestive tract, the balloons are not digested and can cause blockages and death.

Education, understanding are key

Keith Rittmaster, natural sciences curator at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, has been responding to reports of dead and dying whales for a number of years, and he has witnessed firsthand the impact balloons have on marine life.

A Gervais beaked whale that beached off Emerald Isle in 2023 was, to Rittmaster, particularly sad.

“(It was) a nursing calf that had no food in the stomach. No squid parts or fish parts. They had mother’s milk,” he said. “This balloon was blocking the entrance to the stomach so no milk could pass. I had to use my imagination to figure out what was going on. I can’t imagine it was anything but this was the first bite that this whale took.”

Whales are not the only marine species affected by the balloons that have landed at sea. Seabirds and sea turtles regularly become entangled in the lines and sea turtles, like whales, will try to eat the balloons.

Rittmaster, whose area of expertise is marine mammals, said that researchers are seeing an unexplained phenomenon regarding whales.

“What we’re learning, which is kind of an ‘oh, wow!’ to me is, we’re finding more plastic balloons all the time in deep-diving whales rather than shallow-diving whales,” he said.

He then sounded a cautionary note about the problem’s pervasiveness.

“It’s going to get worse even if we ended it today,” he said. “If, for some miracle, we could end the releasing of balloons today — I feel pretty confident since these plastics last hundreds of years — this problem is going to continue to get worse, not just the balloons themselves, but the plastic and nylon strings that they are tied to.”

Like Swick, Rittmaster is resolute in calling for action.

“There’s a lot of things that are terrifying us that we can’t even conceive how to solve in generations. This is something we can solve,” he said.

The challenge is often frustrating.

After the city of Greenville voted 4-3 in the fall of 2023 against an ordinance that would ban balloon releases, Rittmaster led some workshops about what happens when a balloon is released.

“A politician was there,” he recalled. “And I gave the presentation and she said, ‘Can we just release the balloons inland but not release them along the coast?’ This isn’t a bad person. She doesn’t really understand, and that highlighted to me what we’re up against.”

Swick believes education is the key, and with that knowledge will come a better understanding of the world around us and perhaps a hope for future generations.

“This is just such small potatoes, so it gets pushed on the back burner…This is one of those things, it’s not going to go away until we decide to make a change,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of educating but my hope is that the generations of children that are coming up, (that they) learn a valuable lesson and take that with them as they grow into adulthood and raise children.”

The public can officially join the effort to keep Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches clean and safe.

Seashore officials announced Wednesday its new Adopt-A-Beach program that allows groups to adopt a 2-mile section of beach.

The 18 sections available focus on the year-round, off-road vehicle routes north of Oregon Inlet and on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. More sections could be added in the future, officials said.

“So many local families and businesses already provide exceptional support to the Seashore by helping to steward our beaches,” National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac said in a statement. “Through this program, the Seashore will be able to better support and recognize individuals and organizations that want to help maintain beautiful beaches.”

A group must commit to four cleanups each year and meet all reporting requirements. After their first cleanup, each group will be acknowledged with signage at the entry point to their adopted area for the remainder of their commitment.

The seashore worked with North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, the first organization to adopt a Seashore beach, to develop the program. NCBBA provided valuable insight from their decades-long Operation Beach Respect program.

“The National Park Service would also like to thank all the individuals who have spent countless hours picking up litter along Seashore beaches,” the release states.

More information, including requirements, how to sign up and maps of adoptable areas are available at go.nps.gov/adoptabeach. Interested groups may also contact the Seashore at caha_adopt_a_beach@nps.gov to learn more about the program. Training and cleanup supplies will be provided to group leaders following signup.

Updated at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials started their Tuesday morning cleaning up another fallen oceanfront house on National Park Service property — and they’re asking for the public’s help.

The unoccupied structure at 24131 Ocean Drive in Rodanthe likely collapsed around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, officials said.

To protect visitors while the cleanup takes place, a milelong section of beach from Sea Haven Drive to South Shore Drive is temporarily closed.

This is the sixth house to collapse on seashore beaches in the past four years.

“Due to the direction that the debris is expected to drift, visitors are urged to avoid the beaches north of Sea Haven Drive into the southern portion of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Dangerous debris may be present on the beach and in the water. Additional beach closures may be necessary as the debris spreads and cleanup efforts proceed,” Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials said.

The 1,501-square-foot, five-bedroom home with two and a half baths was built in 1970, according to real estate websites.

Officials are also asking the public to for help cleaning up the debris associated with the collapse.

The cleanup is scheduled to take place 8 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Rodanthe Pier, 24251 Atlantic Drive. Supplies will be provided.

Many of the pieces of wood that have washed up on the beach have exposed nails, so all volunteers are encouraged to wear thick-soled footwear. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

As of 4:11 p.m. Tuesday, 49 seashore employees, Chicamacomico Banks Fire and Rescue and a contractor hired by the property owner filled up 31 pickup trucks with debris and unloaded the debris at a nearby parking lot. The debris will be permanently disposed of in the coming days.

Varying amounts of beach debris extend from just south of the house collapse site to more than 2 miles to the north, within Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Carteret County officials are set to consider proposed language that would authorize removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels in navigable waters.

A violation could result in a $100 per offense civil penalty, along with remedies to recover costs incurred by the county.

County commissioners are expected to discuss the proposed ordinance during their meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at 302 Courthouse Square in the Administration Building in Beaufort.

Several other coastal counties and municipalities have adopted similar ordinances to deal with the problem of abandoned boats. The proposed language would define an abandoned vessel as one left moored, anchored or otherwise located for more than 30 consecutive days in any 180-consecutive-day period “without the permission of the dock owner, marina owner, boat slip owner or property owner of the riparian corridor in which the vessel is located.”

The definition would also include vessels anchored “or affixed for any period of time” within 75 feet of any other legally anchored vessel or mooring, private dock or marina without the owner’s permission.

Any unmanned vessel at anchor and lacking working anchor lights would also be considered abandoned.

A derelict vessel would be one that’s in danger of sinking, has sunk, is resting on the bottom or a hazard to navigation, people or other boats or real property.

No display of current state, federal or foreign registration when requested by a law officer also counts as derelict, as does a live-aboard vessel lacking proper facilities. Barnacle-laden vessels, substantially dismantled and unable to be used for navigation, would also be considered derelict.

The ordinance would make exceptions for shipwrecks and archaeological remains, and it lays out the steps for notice, removal and recovery, as well as penalties.

Visitors are urged to avoid the beach adjacent to Ocean Drive in Rodanthe because of exposed wires, pipes and septic systems, Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials said Thursday.

The officials are working with Dare County and the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative on the exposed hazards, according to the advisory.

Public Affairs Specialist Mike Barber told Coastal Review Thursday that while performing periodic monitoring of the shoreline in Rodanthe, rangers noted the eroded beachfront and a number of concerning hazards adjacent to Ocean Drive in Rodanthe.

The exposed septic systems, unknown wires and pipes, prompted officials to contact the county and electric cooperative, and to issue the advisory announced Thursday morning, Barber explained.

Beachgoers should use caution throughout the beaches in front of the village because hazards, such as building materials and parts of septic systems, may also be present in other areas of the beach in Rodanthe.

Pender County Tourism is hosting a workshop to promote sustainable practices to safeguard coastal ecosystems and educate visitors.

The Green Practices Environment Awareness Seminar is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, April 12, at the Surf City Welcome Center, 102 North Shore Drive. Register at https://bit.ly/GreenPracticesEnviromentalSeminar.  

Guest speakers include representatives from the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Plastic Ocean Project, N.C. Green Travel Initiative, Ocean Friendly Establishments, University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Committee.

Speakers will provide organizational updates, offer strategies and initiatives to reduce plastic usage, and hold an open discussion with attendees.

“We encourage you to join us for lunch and learn more about sustainability practices and programs. Special thanks to Surf City Parks, Recreation and Tourism and the Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce,” organizers said.

For more information or for help registering, email skey@pendercountync.gov or call 910-259-1278.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

After photographer Don Bowers, who has been documenting storms in the northern Buxton beach area for decades, visited the shoreline Wednesday, he said that this week’s low-pressure system has caused more damage there than he has seen since he moved to Hatteras Island in the mid-1960s.

“In the 1970s, we had two big nor’easters that came through and pummeled the (Buxton) area, but we didn’t have as many houses back then,” he said. “This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it.”

Other areas of Hatteras Island were not as severely affected by the storm, but northern Buxton has had multiple cycles of oceanside flooding, particularly during recent high tides, since Monday.

The damage stretches from the northern Buxton border to the now-closed Buxton Beach Access at the end of Old Lighthouse Road.

As of Wednesday, Bowers reports that there are at least a dozen septic tanks that have been recently exposed.

There are a half dozen exterior staircases that have been washed away from homes, multiple broken water pipes, and extensive and miscellaneous debris.

Many side streets in the area remain flooded, while the pilings of oceanfront homes are submerged in ocean waters.

At the site of the former Navy and Coast Guard military base, which has been an area of concern since petroleum smells and sheens started appearing in the fall of 2023, the presence of old infrastructure has noticeably increased in the past several days.

Former remnants of concrete buildings, pipes, cables and other debris from the 1956 to 1982 Navy Base have been a continual sight since two offshore hurricanes brushed the Outer Banks in early September 2023.

As of Wednesday, more infrastructure along the shoreline has been revealed, and the petroleum smell has returned.

“I’ve been out there many times, and it smelled bad today – worse than it has before, I think,” Bowers said.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore personnel expanded the size of the closed beach area near the Buxton Beach Access on Sunday, and a revised precautionary public health advisory was issued for the area on Monday.

The Outer Banks may get a brief and minor respite after days of strong northeast winds, elevated surf, and accelerated erosion Wednesday afternoon, but a second low pressure system is expected to impact the Outer Banks starting late Wednesday night.

Additional overwash and erosion are possible in the next several days, and N.C. Highway 12 may be impacted in northern Buxton and other areas with vulnerable and compromised dunes.

For more information on the forecast, visit the National Weather Service.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

HARKERS ISLAND — The North Carolina Coastal Federation on Friday hosted staff from Sens. Thom Tillis’ and Ted Budd’s offices along with federal and state officials on a tour of federally funded coastal projects.

The projects include removing abandoned and derelict vessels and marine debris, and the construction of oyster sanctuaries in the Pamlico Sound. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Joe Huie is a commercial fisherman from Sneads Ferry. He has worked as Coastal Federation contractor, supervising marine debris crews, for about five years. His crew members are all fishermen, and their work began just after Hurricane Florence in 2018.

“Hurricane Florence devastated our area,” Huie said. “We got almost 4 feet of rain; the river was closed for four or five months. So they hired us on to help put together crews pick up marine debris. And from the very first day that we started, even in waters that we were intimately familiar with, we realized that there was way more marine debris than anybody could ever imagine.”

He said the crews, working between Sneads Ferry and the South Carolina state line, collected an average 1 ton of marine debris every day by hand.

“Even in places that we’ve been to and we returned to, we still average a ton of material a day,” Huie said. “And that’s four guys carrying it on their backs in and out of the marsh. So we make very small impacts to the environment, and it’s providing a lot of work for a lot of fishermen in our area.”

He said the crews truly appreciate the work.

“We don’t take it for granted because it helps us clean up the places that we grew up in, that we work in, that we we get food from,” Huie said. “And it also provides us with a job so we feel like we’re giving back to the areas that made us all who we are.”

The work is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via the nearly $6 billion total funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Tillis and Budd, along with all other Republicans in both chambers, voted against the 2022 climate change and healthcare measure. Tillis voted in favor of the 2021 infrastructure act, while Budd, who was a House member at the time, was opposed.

The senators’ regional representatives, Grayson Overholt for Tillis, and Sam Shumate, for Budd, declined to comment but offered to connect Coastal Review with staff who were authorized to speak. Tillis’ communications director responded, but no comment was received in time for publication.

The Coastal Federation said the work is part of a larger effort to rid the coast of storm-related debris, lost fishing gear and derelict vessels. The effort also includes broad public outreach and education efforts aimed at reducing marine debris at the source.

Coastal Federation scientist and Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis explained how the federal and state funding the nonprofit receives to protect and restore coastal waters and habitats, provides jobs and economic support for coastal communities.

“The vast majority of funding is going to pay contractors, suppliers, fishermen like these,” Wilgis said.

Building oyster habitat

The tour included a visit to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries stockpile and boatyard at South River. The NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation is supporting construction of 120 acres of oyster habitat in Pamlico Sound. This project is to complete the 500-acre Sen. Jean Preston Memorial Oyster Sanctuary, which began with 15 acres in 2017 and was named for the longtime legislator who represented Carteret County in the North Carolina General Assembly. Preston died in 2013.

Oyster sanctuaries provide direct benefits for key recreational and commercial species, the Coastal Federation noted, citing as examples striped bass and wild oysters.

Another part of the project involves a collaboration of the Coastal Federation, North Carolina Central University and North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, to provide hands-on opportunities for underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students studying marine sciences.

These NOAA-supported projects are helping the Coastal Federation advance its goal of protecting and restoring the North Carolina coast for future generations, the nonprofit said.

“We are incredibly grateful for the funds provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, which have allowed us to enhance our capacity to address the issue of marine debris,” said NOAA Marine Debris Program Director Nancy Wallace in a statement. “The strides made by our partners at the North Carolina Coastal Federation have been pivotal in protecting the North Carolina coast and waterways, and we are excited to see the effects of their continued efforts with the implementation of these projects.”

For the first time in five years, the lost fishing gear recovery project is being extended to the southeastern part of the coast.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation and North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Marine Patrol are partners for the project that has been in place since 2014.

This is the first time since 2019 a group of commercial fishing crews will be working to locate and remove lost crab pots Marine Patrol District 3, which including areas from Emerald Isle in Carteret County down to Sunset Beach. Work began Monday and is expected to end March 15.

The first part of this year’s project took place in January between Emerald Isle and the Virginia border.

“Lost fishing gear is a common occurrence every year in North Carolina’s sounds due to storms, King Tide events, vandalism, and vessel traffic. This lost gear can become an obstacle to boats, wildlife, and other fishermen and women as it can get hung up or drift into channels,” organizers said.

Long-time commercial fisherman, Joseph Huie Jr. from Sneads Ferry, said in a statement glad to be involved. “It’s important for the blue crab fishery and much more. Without clean waterways, there would be so much at risk.”

Ted Wilgis, Coastal Federation coastal scientist and marine debris program lead, stressed the importance of the project, especially in the southern region.

“Our region has the only two Diamondback Terrapin Management Areas along the coast, around Masonboro Island Reserve and the marshes below Bald Head Island in the Cape Fear,” Wilgis in a release. “Terrapins live in our estuaries in declining numbers. Unfortunately, they can drown by getting caught in crab pots. Cleaning up lost pots and fishermen adapting their pots to exclude terrapins are vital things being done to help protect this important species.”

The project funded by the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program is part of the Marine Debris Action Plan and the Coastal Federation’s overall effort to keep the coast free of marine debris. The annual paid program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is a significant objective of the N.C. Marine Debris Strategic Plan.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Clarification: Dare County officials noted in an email to Coastal Review that while the Coast Guard was the last owner of the site, “it was inherited from the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the FUDS declaration so there are several parties at play that we would like to appeal to without any one party being perceived as taking the blame.” That said, the resolution states that the Coast Guard is the designated federal on-scene coordinator in the coastal zone, with a duty to assess and mitigate the problem, “when a responsible party fails to do so.”

Citing threats to the environment and public safety, the Dare County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Monday that requests that the Coast Guard take immediate action to restore the Buxton beach access to its “pre-military condition.”

Commissioner Danny Couch presented the resolution during the board’s regular meeting in Manteo. The resolution asks the Coast Guard, as the designated federal on-scene coordinator for the coastal zone in North Carolina, to take immediate action to rectify oil discharge into the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent shoreline and remove remaining infrastructure debris.

This situation is concerning, “not just from an environmental standpoint, but from a public safety standpoint as well,” Couch said.

The area at Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Buxton beach access at the south end of Old Lighthouse Road served as a military base for both the Navy and Coast Guard from 1956 until 2010, according to the National Park Service website.

The Army Corps of Engineers approved in 1998 the Buxton Beach Access as a Formerly Used Defense Site and began responding to petroleum contamination there.

On Sept. 1, 2023, visitors reported that erosion from two storms “uncovered potentially hazardous infrastructure associated with the Navy and Coast Guard bases and visitors reported a strong smell of petroleum,” and reported these concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Spill Response Center.

“Due to decades-long military usage and apparently incomplete restoration of the area, samples taken from the Buxton Beach Access beach tested positive in early September 2023, for petroleum-contaminated soils (PCS). Additionally, due to coastal erosion, abandoned facilities, construction debris, and septic systems associated with historic Navy and Coast Guard activities have been observed along the beach adjacent to the Buxton Beach Access,” the website states.

Most recently on Feb. 9, park staff noticed “a very strong smell of petroleum products and multiple surfers reported that their wetsuits and hair smelled like fuel and noticed a sheen on the water near Buxton Beach Access,” according to the website. Reports were again submitted to the National Response Center.

“Why should we be concerned about the closing of this beach here? I’ll tell you why,” Couch told the board. “Because it’s not a good look for National Seashore” to have houses crumbling into the ocean in Rodanthe because of erosion “and then to have crime tape” cordoning off the debris on the beach ranked No. 4 in the U.S. by Dr. Beach.

Dr. Beach is an author and director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University who ranks beaches at drbeach.org.

The area in Buxton is also where where the county has committed to preserving N.C. Highway 12 infrastructure, Couch noted.

“I’m just curious if this exact scenario had washed up on the beaches of, I don’t know, Martha’s Vineyard or the Hamptons on Long Island. Would we still be begging pleading for someone to please remediate this dangerous and unhealthy situation?” Commissioner Bob Ross asked during the meeting.

Commissioner Bob Woodard noted during the meeting that he, the vice chair and the county manager were going to travel to Washington, D.C., and, “this will be one of our top subject matters when we meet with our legislators.”

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has announced that the 10th year of its Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project is wrapping up, and usable, tagged lost gear is ready to be reclaimed.

The Coastal Federation said that along the state’s coast, 50 commercial watermen and women collectively spent nearly 150 working days on the water throughout January retrieving lost crab pots from the sounds.

An additional part of the project will take place in Marine Patrol District 1 in the northeast region, the nonprofit said. Whole pots, in good condition, recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region will be available for the rightful property owners to claim. This includes crab pots retrieved from the Virginia state line and Manteo to Swan Quarter and from the Outer Banks to Ocracoke.

Crab pots recovered in the northeast region that are in good enough condition to be used again, have been set aside for reclaiming. Only pots with an identifiable buoy recovered from the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound area are available for this reclaiming process.

Those interested in reclaiming ownership of any of the gear recovered from the northeast coast will need to make an appointment with Coastal Education Coordinator Sara Hallas weekdays from Feb. 19 to March 1. To schedule an appointment call 252-473-1607.

“A valuable part of this project is having the opportunity to return some of the gear to the fishers. With the value of recycling the gear being only five cents per pound and the cost of a new crab pot rising to over $50, it just makes sense,” Hallas said.

Identification will be required upon claiming any gear. Unclaimed gear will be recycled to the best extent possible.

This project is part of the Coastal Federation’s goal to ensure the North Carolina coast is free of marine debris. Establishing an annual paid program for marine debris removal — including crab pots — is a key objective of the N.C. Marine Debris Action Plan. Through field surveys, marine debris cleanup crews reported over 85% of the debris removed from North Carolina’s estuaries between 2019 and 2022 is the result of damaged and lost docks, piers, boat houses, and similar structures.

For more information on the progress of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project over the past 10 years, visit Coastal Federation’s website. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Want hard-to-spot plastic straws, cigarette butts and bottle caps off North Carolina beaches? This is the droid you’re looking for.

Say hello to BeBot, the first and only solar- and battery-powered, automated beach sweeper in the state and one of less than a dozen being operated in the country.

BeBot made its North Carolina debut on Carolina Beach, where Keep New Hanover Beautiful Executive Director Dick Brightman showed it off during a pop-up demonstration in late October.

A month later, officials with various regulatory agencies gathered on Wrightsville Beach’s shore to watch BeBot in action.

As with any type of equipment, be it a dredge pipe or shoreline rake-pulling pickup, BeBot cannot be operated without a proper permit. Not even a droid can escape the rigors of passing muster with Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, minor permit.

BeBot is roughly the size of a zero-turn lawnmower. It weighs a little more than 1,350 pounds, can reach speeds up to 3 mph and has a battery life of a few hours.

And while it’s not designed to clean entire beachfronts – BeBot can cover about 5,000 square feet over 20 to 25 minutes, according to Brightman – what makes it unique is its ability to sweep up small, difficult-to-see plastics and cigarette butts lurking just beneath a sandy surface.

BeBot is equipped with a blade that grazes no deeper than 4 inches below the surface, pushing sand onto a metal grate that sifts the sand back onto shore while capturing trash in a back compartment. That trash then can be dumped at an area and taken off the beach.

The depth with which it scratches the surface, its size and tracked wheels make it low-impact on a shoreline, Brightman said.

And, because BeBot is remotely controlled onsite by a human, “we can maneuver it around any areas we don’t want it to be, vis-à-vis turtle nesting areas,” he said.

“It’s very, very maneuverable,” he said. “It’ll turn 360 degrees standing still. I was amazed at how easily it can be maneuvered.”

BeBot has been awarded to other beautification organizations in Florida, Ohio and Lake Tahoe in recent years by various nonprofits, including Keep America Beautiful, the national organization founded in the early 1950s that has more than 700 community affiliates.

The bot is a creation of Italy-based NITEKO Robotics and distributed by The Searial Cleaners, a subsidiary of Poralu Marine in France. All told, a single bot and a trailer to haul it costs about $80,000.

BeBot is not meant to replace human-led beach litter sweeps, but rather to be used to raise awareness about smaller pieces of trash and plastics that tend to get overlooked on beaches.

But Brightman’s hope is that BeBot will eventually circulate from beach town to beach town where it can be used to not only demonstrate how much trash is just beneath a shore’s surface, but utilized to sweep more heavily used areas of a beach, including those around piers and resort areas.

“We’re trying to get it out on the beaches now because we want to get some exposure,” he said. “Ideally what I want to do is one event a month, including in the summer season.”

He has a permit application in to the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management to operate BeBot at Wrightsville Beach’s Crystal Pier.

Beach towns interested in using BeBot will have to obtain their own CAMA minor permit to use the bot.

Katie Ryan, Wrightsville Beach’s recreation program supervisor, said the town supports Brightman’s efforts to raise awareness about trash on the beach.

“I think any effort to clean up anything on the beach is worthwhile,” she said.

With the help of 25 commercial fishermen and women, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has begun efforts to find and remove potentially harmful lost fishing gear.

Since 2014, the nonprofit organization has led the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project to remove lost crab pots from North Carolina sounds. Lost gear can get hung up or drift into channels, creating serious hazards to boaters, wildlife and other fishermen.

As part of the effort, commercial fishermen and women are hired to collect the pots during the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish, and shrimp pots Jan. 1-31 north of N.C. Highway 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.

Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator and project leader, said this work is crucial to ensuring we have a coast that’s free of marine debris.

“This project brings together unique partnerships for a common cause of clean waterways. Commercial fishers are true experts of the local waters, with all the time they spend out there. It’s an honor to team up with them on this project, to ensure its success,” she said.

The 2024 project, which began Monday, is taking place in select areas within Marine Patrol District 1, which covers the northeast region of the coast, and District 2, which covers the central coast.

The boat crews will remove debris from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for three to five days, when the weather is favorable.

Once the pots are collected, they are recycled to the best extent possible. Crab pots that are recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region during the project will be available for the rightful property owners to reclaim after the cleanup is complete.

“I’m glad to be involved and do my part to keep the sounds clean, it’s important for the blue crab fishery and much more. Without clean waterways, there would be so much at risk,” said Chris Lamb, a long-time project participant from Belhaven.

In 2023, commercial watermen and women in partnership with the N.C. Marine Patrol removed 2,077 pots from select areas within all three Marine Patrol Districts.

Funded by the North Carolina Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program, the project is intended to improve habitat, and water quality and support coastal economies.

This project is part of the Federation’s overall effort to ensure the North Carolina coast is free of marine debris. Establishing an annual paid program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is a key objective of the N.C. Marine Debris Strategic Plan.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Hundreds of tires used to build artificial reefs decades ago have washed ashore on two North Carolina beaches after a coastal storm swept up the eastern seaboard last Sunday.

A crew with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries cleared all of about 1,000 tires that littered Holden Beach’s ocean shore Tuesday, said Patricia Smith, the division’s public information officer.

The tires were disposed of in an area landfill.

Division staff also began picking up Tuesday what the division estimates to be several hundred tires that washed onto Indian Beach’s shore following Sunday’s coastal storm, which brought gusty winds, storm surge and rain that caused localized flooding.

Smith said in an email that staff will continue to remove tires from that Carteret County’s shoreline Wednesday.

“DMF will continue to monitor the beaches over the next few days,” Smith said.

Coastal storms have churned up old artificial tire reefs in the Atlantic Ocean for years and left tires scattered by the hundreds on beaches.

The practice of using scrap vehicle tires to build up artificial reefs began back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, according to the “2020 Guidelines for Marine Artificial Reef Materials,” a public of the Atlantic and Gulf State Marine Fisheries Commissions.

Tire reefs were an acceptable low-cost alternative disposal option for millions of stockpiled tires through to the early 1980s, when states, including North Carolina, stopped using them to build artificial reefs.

State fisheries began taking over artificial reefs off the coast in the early 1970s.

Millions of tires remain in artificial reefs along the nation’s coasts.

HOLLY RIDGE — The North Carolina Coastal Federation and the town are partnering to build a new dock at the Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve to provide community access and showcase improved and more resilient dock construction standards.

This past year, the Coastal Federation successfully lobbied the North Carolina General Assembly to reinstate building standards for residential docks and piers to ensure they do not break apart during storms. Following Hurricane Florence in 2018, half of all the docks and piers along the southeast and central coasts were damaged or destroyed resulting in widespread marine debris.

This year, the General Assembly adopted language that requires docks built in estuarine waters to comply with Chapter 36 of the state building code.

Coastal Advocate Kerri Allen, who led the charge for this new law on behalf of the Coastal Federation, explained that this move by the General Assembly will ensure that docks and piers are built to a stronger standard, which will advocates said will not only prevent future dock debris but benefit coastal property owners by reducing the amount of costly repairs.

“Through our marine debris removal program, we consistently saw that about 90% of the debris being removed was from residential docks. When you take into consideration the fact that our crews remove over 2,000 pounds of debris every day, that adds up,” Allen explained.

Holly Ridge Public Works Director Mike McFann shared his enthusiasm for the Morris Landing pier construction that is being funded by the North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License Grant Program.

“The Town of Holly Ridge is excited to be part of the Morris Landing Pier renovation. With the updated materials used in the reconstruction of the pier, the Coastal Federation and the Town of Holly Ridge are proud to display how piers and docks can be constructed to higher standards,” McFann said. “With these higher standards, there will be large savings on maintenance costs and increased durability. We are also excited for the sixty-foot ‘T’ that will be added to the end of the pier to give family and visitors more space to enjoy the coastal waters.”

The old wooden dock is currently being replaced using stronger materials, the footprint will also be updated to be more accessible, and the fishing pier area will be expanded to accommodate more use by the fishing community.

Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve is a 52-acre property that contains coastal shrub scrub and forest habitat, salt marsh, and tidal creek areas and has over 3,000 feet of shoreline along Stump Sound. The preserve is located in the heart of the very productive shellfish growing areas of Stump Sound and is an excellent site to stage oyster restoration and shellfish enhancement activities.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

This story has been updated to include omitted partners in the effort.

A whale calf that washed ashore last week on Emerald Isle’s ocean shoreline died from ingesting a plastic balloon.

Scientists who performed a necropsy on the Gervais’ beaked whale removed a crumpled-up plastic balloon that had obstructed the calf’s gastrointestinal tract, ultimately causing its death, according to a University of North Carolina Wilmington release.

The whale, a nursing, female calf just under 11 feet long, was first spotted by beachgoers in shallow waters, before eventually washing onto the beach and shortly dying thereafter on Oct. 30.

Gervais’ beaked whales typically live several hundred miles offshore at the edge of the continental shelf and beyond.

Marine mammal experts, including those with the UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program, veterinarians, and students from various state educational institutions and agencies studied the deceased whale.

UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program Director Michael Tift said in a statement that there are a many reasons why marine mammals strand on beaches, including diseases, wounds from other animals, ship or boat strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and ingestion of human-manufactured products such as plastic.

“Unfortunately, it is common for us to identify plastic ingestion as the cause of death in these rare deep-diving marine mammals,” Tift said. “Ingestion of these balloons can cause pain, suffering and ultimately the death of many wild animals. It is terribly similar to the ingestion or encounter with plastic straws and other plastic products many have seen cause injury or death in sea turtles and sea birds. I have seen Mylar® balloons in some of the most remote places on the planet and have witnessed their devastating effects on wildlife.”

About 125 marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and manatees strand on North Carolina’s beaches every year, according to Tift. The only way to determine a cause of death in these cases is to investigate each one, he stated.

Tift, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Biology and Marine Biology, encourages lawmakers to consider banning plastic products. He and other members of the network also encourage consumers to consider using biodegradable alternatives to balloons, including paper decorations, flowers or candles.

Consumers who use balloons are asked to deflate them and remove all gases before throwing them away.

The necropsy of the whale was performed at North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST and included teams of marine mammal scientists, veterinarians and students from UNCW, NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, NC Aquariums, Duke University Marine Laboratory, North Carolina Maritime Museum Bonehenge Whale Center, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences and the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

Marine mammal strandings may be reported by calling the following numbers:

• Outer Banks: 252-455-9654.
• Central coast: 252-241-5119. 
• Southern coast: 910-515-7354.

Plans to phase out during the next decade single-use plastic products on public lands — places like the Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras national seashores — are in the works, and while optimistic, conservation groups have their concerns.

Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Thursday the department-wide approach to reduce plastic pollution and a “first-ever effort” for the department to factor the climate crisis into all operations. The announcement came during the White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities, which was broadcast on YouTube.

“Everyone here today understands these simple truths. The climate crisis is real. It’s happening now. And it’s uprooting lives across our country,” she said during the summit. “It is abundantly clear that even as we transition our economy toward a sustainable future, adaptation and resilience must be core pillars of our collective climate response.”

Haaland signed her Secretary’s Order 3407 on World Ocean Day June 8, 2022, directing the department “to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products.”

“I issued a secretary’s order to phase out the sale of single-use plastics on interior-managed lands by 2032. Today, we are telling you how we’re going to get it done,” she said.

Each bureau has sustainable procurement plans outlining approaches and schedules to phase out single-use plastic products such as plastic bottles and bags, and to implement improvements like the installation of water bottle filling stations across interior manage lands.

Related: Interior order phases out single-use plastics on public lands

“Our department is also taking a concerted look at how we operate and make decisions about the future in the face of the climate crisis,” Haaland continued, adding that it should be part of every decision.

That look includes four new department manual policies “to strengthen and enhance mission critical decisions and activities” and also reflect the department’s “commitment to using science, indigenous knowledge and landscape-scale management as the foundation for departmental decisions,” she said.

The department has adaption and resilience projects across the country.

In northeastern North Carolina, Haaland said the department is working with partners and local officials to “advance transformational peatland restoration work. Healthy forested peatlands offer some of nature’s best carbon storage while protecting coastal communities from threats like sea level rise, flooding and wildfires, but extreme climate fueled conditions combined with increased wildfire risks threaten these essential ecosystems and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.”

To advance nature-based solutions, more than $27 million from the Inflation Reduction Act has gone to restoration efforts for the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary, which Haaland said is to fortify communities against the “mounting impacts of climate change.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners have restored 37,000 acres of peatlands already at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, over half of the project’s goal.

Related: Refuge exudes natural diversity, wonders of pocosin lakes

“By restoring the natural hydrology and regional peat soils. The department is ensuring that communities and local habitats can enjoy the region’s countless ecological services from clean air and water and soil to storm flow resilience long into the future,” she said.

The plans Haaland announced Thursday are in support of the president’s executive order that called for federal agencies to take actions to reduce and phase out procurement of single-use plastic products to the maximum extent practicable.

Interior officials said that the plans published Thursday will be updated in 2024 to include additional details on where and how single-use plastics will be eliminated.

Since the signing of the secretary’s order last year, officials said that national, wildlife refuges and conservation lands have been installing water bottle filling stations, increasing recycling, and working with concessionaires to reduce sales of single-use plastic bottles and use of plastic utensils, bags, straws and other plastic products.

Cape Lookout National Seashore Chief of Interpretation and Education Nate Toering said Friday that the seashore is already ahead of the curve on eliminating single-use plastics in many areas throughout the park.

“We have worked closely with park partners to achieve this. For example, Eastern National, who runs our park stores, switched from issuing plastic bags with sales, and instead offers inexpensive reusable bags for purchase,” Toering explained. Adding that service providers such as Island Express Ferry Service have transitioned to selling water and other drinks in cardboard boxes and cans instead of plastic bottles.

“So, while there is always room to improve, Cape Lookout is well on its way toward achieving this goal. With over 50 miles of beaches and already tackling a never-ending marine debris problem — including lots of plastics — it’s a relief to know that we’re at least becoming less of the problem and more of the solution,” he said.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider told Coastal Review Friday she feels that phasing out single-use plastics is achievable, but it will take a long-term commitment and accountability from decision-makers on all sides of the political spectrum.

“Plastic waste and pollution are industry problems that have burdened consumers for generations. I am hopeful that government intervention and sustainable procurement practices set by the Department of the Interior will show progress in pollution prevention. I am hopeful that this effort will further support industries that provide alternatives to single-use plastic products,” Rider said. “With all that said, the burden remains on us consumers and constituents to hold decision-makers, now and in the future, responsible for protecting our quality of water and life from plastic pollution.”

Oceana Campaign Director Christy Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that “Today our national parks are one step closer to being plastic-free.”

The organization “applauds” Haaland’s “commitment to phase out the sale and distribution of single-use plastic products in national parks and other public lands” but, the department should “implement the plans more quickly.”

“The National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and other bureaus of the Interior Department should immediately phase out the most problematic plastics, including plastic foam food and beverage containers and plastic bags. Protecting our national parks from plastics is an important step toward a plastic pollution-free future and can’t come soon enough,” she said.

A longtime advocate for ending plastics pollution, Bonnie Montelone said she has been studying plastic pollution since 2008, “when this topic was just starting to capture the global conscience.”

She is founder and executive director of Plastic Ocean Project, a Wilmington-based organization working to end plastic pollution.

Though plastic production and use has nearly doubled from 245 metric tons to nearly 470 metric tons since then, Montelone continued. “We are at the tipping point of real change.”

Montelone added that another federal agency, the Department of the State, is taking strides to end plastic pollution, as well.

She attended the launch Sept. 20 of End Plastic Pollution International Collaboration, or EPPIC, in New York City, a new public-private partnership.

With $15 million from the Department of State, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Aspen Institute and The Ocean Foundation’s Plastic Initiative, both based in the U.S., and Searious Business in the Netherlands were able to initiate the multistakeholder effort.

“We know all too well the devastating impacts of plastic pollution on our planet. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to finding real solutions to this global crisis at home and abroad. EPPIC will create the stage to motivate ambitious commitments and actions to combat plastic pollution,” Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment said in a statement.

EPPIC aims to spur global action on plastic pollution by supporting projects worldwide to make the full lifecycle of plastic more sustainable, starting with efforts to change the design and use of plastic products. The EPPIC will build on established partnerships and networks to avoid duplicating efforts, the website said.

“Recognizing the need to change the design and use of plastic products in order to make plastic’s full lifecycle more sustainable, the federal government is now supporting collaboration with governments, businesses, civil society, the philanthropic and NGO communities,” Montelone said.

Though this is encouraging, Montelone said, if consumers understood that every time we buy food or drink packaged in plastic, we are voting for more of the same.

“But more importantly, if we took a look at that plastic and said, ‘I’m going to be eating and/or drinking the chemicals from this packaging and when I’m done with it, the environment, whether in a landfill or not, is going to also consume those chemicals,’ people might reconsider,” she said.

An informational webinar about an opportunity to compete for part of $16 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for research projects to prevent and rid the coast of marine debris is set for Oct. 3.

North Carolina Sea Grant announced Monday that it is looking for partners interested in the latest round of NOAA Sea Grant funding for the Marine Debris Challenge Competition to begin exploring partnerships and topics now. Letters of intent, due Jan. 30, 2024, are the first step — and must be submitted by a Sea Grant program.

“We are excited to collaborate with a variety of partners — from national, regional, state and local scales — to bring many talents together to address marine debris challenges within our coastal watersheds and coastal communities, and beyond,” Susan White, North Carolina Sea Grant executive director, said in a statement. “Such integrated research, extension and education efforts are critical to moving the needle for a problem that is expanding, and affects all here, nationally and globally.”

Instructions for the Marine Debris Challenge Competition opportunity can be found on the national Sea Grant Funding page.

The webinar begins at 4 p.m. Oct. 3. Register in advance.

NOAA Sea Grant said the opportunity is open to any person or group within the United States or its territories, as well as tribal nations within those geographies.

“Applicants must submit proposals in partnership with a relevant Sea Grant Program. Please note that it is not a requirement that investigators, including the principal investigator, be part of a Sea Grant program,” the funding announcement explains. 

Partners interested in submitting a proposal in collaboration with and/or through NC Sea Grant should contact John Fear at jmfear@ncsu.edu or White at snwhite3@ncsu.edu quickly to discuss the proposal topic and Sea Grant collaboration.

“As with all our funding opportunities, we seek a wide range of researchers, participants and partners from communities that have been underserved, and from universities and organizations serving those communities,” Fear said. 

Only those who submit letters of intent are eligible to submit full proposals. Full proposals must be based on letters of intent and include Sea Grant partnerships.

Only Sea Grant programs may submit full proposals for this federal opportunity. Thus, proposals from North Carolina researchers must be submitted to John Fear by 5 p.m., Friday, March 1, 2024, to ensure NC Sea Grant has the time needed to process all proposals ahead of the federal deadline.

Complete proposals should be emailed to jmfear@ncsu.edu.

Update 1:30 p.m. Aug. 29: Due to ongoing preparations for the approaching storm and the State of Emergency issued by Gov. Roy Cooper, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials have postponed the interagency work group meeting scheduled for Aug. 30. The meeting will be rescheduled.

Original Post Aug. 25:

The public may listen by computer or phone to a virtual meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday when an interagency work group is to discuss government authorities for managing threatened oceanfront structures.

The Threatened Oceanfront Structures Interagency Work Group meeting is being hosted by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Join the meeting online. The meeting number is 2425 929 0132. Password is IWGAUG23. To join by phone call 1-415-655-0003. Use access code and 2425 929 0132 password IWGAUG23, or 49428423 from phones.

The work group was established in August 2022 to engage with partner organizations and stakeholders to identify, research, and recommend policy and/or program improvements to establish more proactive, comprehensive, and predictable strategies for addressing structures at immediate risk of collapse, DCM officials said.

Interested parties can submit comments by email to DCMcomments@deq.nc.gov. include “Threatened Oceanfront Structures” in the subject line.

Volunteers are needed this fall to help the North Carolina Department of Transportation collect litter from along the state’s roadsides during the 2023 Fall Litter Sweep planned for Sept. 16-30.

The biannual cleanup usually scheduled for the last two weeks of April and September is one of NCDOT’s roadside litter removal initiatives.

Officials are encouraging residents throughout the state to participate in efforts in their area to help clean up North Carolina’s roads. In addition to volunteers, NCDOT maintenance crews devote one week of their time to pick up litter and collect orange bags placed on the roadsides by volunteer pickups.

“North Carolina’s beauty spans from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks and safeguarding its litter-free charm is a collective effort,” David Harris, the state’s Roadside Environmental engineer, said in a statement. “By participating in the Fall Litter Sweep, you are helping to ensure a clean and green North Carolina that we can all take pride in.” 

Those interested in volunteering should contact ​the NCDOT litter program coordinator for their county to get started.

Volunteers are provided cleanup supplies, including trash bags, gloves and orange safety vests,​ from their county maintenance office.

If you find any unusual or interesting items during your litter cleanup, use the hashtag, #StrangeLitter on social media​.​

Updated at 11 a.m. Tuesday: Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Friday Senate Bill 465, “Cities/Remove & Dispose of Abandoned Vessels.”

Original report “Bill to OK removal of abandoned vessels awaits signature,” follows below:

Cities and now all county governments have the authority to remove abandoned vessels from navigable waters within their jurisdictions under a bill passed recently by the North Carolina General Assembly.

Legislative action on Senate Bill 465 came to a close on Thursday morning when the House approved the bill in a 108-0 vote.

The bill must be signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper, who was presented the proposed law Friday.

The bill adds language to an existing general statute that allowed only the 20 Coastal Area Management Act counties to adopt ordinances to manage removal and disposal of abandoned vessels.

Abandoned vessels are defined as those either moored, anchored, or located more than 30 consecutive days within a 180-consecutive-day timespan without a dock owner’s permission, or a boat in danger of sinking, already sunk or resting on the bottom, poses a navigation hazard or is an immediate danger to other vessels.

Underwater archeological remains including shipwrecks, vessels, cargoes, and tackle in place for more than a decade are not considered abandoned and may not be moved without the approval of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Sens. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, Tom McInnis, R-Cumberland, and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, introduced the bill April 3.

OTWAY — Carteret County residents and small business owners can pick up starting at 2 p.m. April 16 a free tarp to secure trucks and trailers when transporting loads to a convenience site.

Available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last, the 6-foot by 8-foot tarps will be at the Otway convenience site, 485 Harkers Island Road.

The tarp giveaway program is part of Carteret County government’s “Secure Your Load” campaign designed to help combat roadside litter and cut down litter near Carteret County convenience sites.

Carteret County-led Litter Free Land and Sea program, Tractor Supply Co. of Morehead City and GFL Environmental have partnered on the project for residents and small business owners who use their personal vehicles.

Under North Carolina law, it is illegal to haul an improperly secured load. Penalties for littering include a fine of up to $2,000, community service, and one point on a driver’s license if convicted, according to the county.

To help a coastal conservation organization learn more about the kind of debris littering southeastern shorelines, around 40 citizen scientists collected over 2,000 samples of microplastics between May and October of last year.

The samples of microplastics, which are tiny pieces of fishing line, bottles, balloons, takeout containers and other plastics measuring less than 5 millimeters, were gathered from more than a dozen sites on the sound and beach between North Topsail Beach and Sunset Beach. 

The volunteers recorded their findings for the North Carolina Coastal Federation-led report, “Microplastics in Southeastern North Carolina: A monitoring and recommendations report” released in late January.

The report was motivated by the amount of microplastics found during the many large-scale cleanups that the Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, had organized after Hurricane Florence caused immense damage in 2018, especially to docks and piers.

Report results point to the unencapsulated polystyrene, or foam, used in pier and dock construction contributing a significant amount of microplastics in those waters.

Volunteers collected 295 sample sets that they categorized into the five microplastics categories. In total, they collected 252 fragments of rigid plastics and firm, brittle pieces; 163 pellets, or plastic beads; 221 pieces of fishing line or plastic rope; 88 films such as balloons and shopping bags; and 1,418 pieces of foam, according to the report.

In addition to microplastics, volunteers found pieces of plastic bottles like caps and labels, cigarette butts, plastic utensils, and large fragments of foam.

Federation Coastal Specialist Georgia Busch told Coastal Review that the results were unsurprising, considering that type of microplastic was the impetus for the citizen-science project.

What did come to light during the sampling period, she added, is that the volunteers with access to marshes, sounds and waterways found more and diverse microplastics in those locations versus on beaches. The tiny foam pieces seemed to accumulate and last a bit longer soundside as compared to the oceanfront.

The concern with microplastics is that they are a type of plastic pollution, and all kinds of plastic waste can break down into microplastics that will persist forever, Busch explained. Microplastics don’t belong in the ecosystem, are impacting all levels of the food web, and are a risk to human health through eating anything sourced from the ocean.

About a third of the seafood species consumed in North Carolina currently do and will consistently have traces of microplastics in them, Busch said. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that your filet is going to be covered in plastic, there’s a toxicity level to be concerned about. 

Busch said that the citizen-science project is a continuation of the Coastal Federation’s work to recover marine debris after Hurricane Florence in estuaries and wetlands.

During the Hurricane Florence recovery project that has taken place over the last few years, 85% of the debris the field crews collected in marshes was from damaged residential docks and piers. 

“One of the common main components for a floating dock of that type is a big polystyrene brick,” Busch said. This material is typically unencapsulated, or not protected with an outer cover to prevent the polystyrene from breaking down in the elements into tiny foam beads. These pieces eventually break down small enough to be considered microplastics.

Though the field crews were not looking for microplastics during the large-scale cleanups, they did find evidence of the polystyrene breaking down. This citizen-science effort with longtime Coastal Federation volunteers — and new ones — provided quantitative data to support the hypothesis that microplastics can come from larger-scale debris.

Wilmington-based Boy Scout Brooks Ford reached out to the Coastal Federation with the idea to follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s protocol to sample microplastics in area beaches for his Eagle Scout project, Busch said.

The EPA’s “Microplastic Beach Protocol” was designed for citizen scientists to collect data on microplastic pollution on marine beaches and shorelines to determine local, regional and global marine debris trends, according to the report.

Ford is in Troop 234, chartered by Wesleyan Chapel United Methodist Church in Wilmington, and currently a sophomore in high school. He completed the project in spring 2022 while still a freshman. 

With sponsorship from area hardware stores, restaurants and supporters, he was able to provide 24 microplastics collection kits for the volunteers to use. The kits were designed and the sieves handmade using EPA guidelines. Ford, with help from his troop, worked on the project for six months.

“In scouting, I have been taught to leave no trace,” Ford said in an email response for comment about why he chose this project. 

“While we enjoy nature and the great outdoors while hiking, camping, and participating in recreational activities, we must also respect wildlife and the environment. This project gave me an opportunity to learn how our heavy use and disposal of plastics negatively affects our environment, specifically the coastline I have the privilege of enjoying,” he said. “As a Boy Scout, I feel I have a lifelong duty to educate, model, and advocate for environmentally sustainable practices. Working with the North Carolina Coastal Federation to complete my Eagle Scout project opened my eyes to a new world of understanding the need to restore and protect the natural habitats of our coast.”

With Ford’s effort and knowing what crews found during the large-scale cleanups, Busch said that they were encouraged to assess on a smaller scale how microplastics are impacting area beaches.

During the six-month collection season last year, volunteers would head out weekly with their kits made up of 5-gallon buckets, hand shovels, brushes and 5-millimeter mesh to sift microplastics out of the sand. They’d work a 10-square-foot space somewhere between the wet sand and the high-tide line. 

Then, the volunteers would record what they found, the time of collection and how busy the beach was, what the weather was like and the status of the tide and submit that information to Busch. She said that there were some days when volunteers would find very few samples, but that depended on where they were working.

Elise Snavely is among the dozens of volunteers who helped with the project.

Originally from Martinsville, Virginia, Snavely said in an interview that she has a background in marine ecology and wanted to become more involved with the Coastal Federation. She earned a bachelor’s from University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2019 and a master’s in biodiversity and conservation at the University of Ghent in Belgium in 2016.

“I was initially asked to get involved in the microplastics sampling back in the spring, but wasn’t able to commit to the weekly sampling then. But in the summer, I met another volunteer, Dennis Doll, at a Coastal Ambassador meeting and he invited me to go sampling with himself and his sampling buddy, Sue-Ann Rush out at Fort Caswell. I had a blast and was told it was nice to have a set of ‘young eyes’ around for the sorting so I ended up going several more times through the summer and fall,” Snavely said. Coastal Ambassadors is a program for Coastal Federation volunteers.

While much of her past sampling work has been in marshes and mangroves, she never sampled on the beach. 

“It was a really nice change! Barefoot sampling with no risk of stepping on oysters is something I could get used to. Keeping the tiny plastic pieces we uncovered from blowing away once the sand was sifted out was a bit challenging,” she said. 

One challenge, Snavely said, is that it was occasionally really difficult to tell small pieces of plastic from organic matter.

“There was one week when there was some sort of worm casing or egg sack all over the beach, they looked and moved a lot like the plastic films or straw wrappers we had found previously,” she said. “I still don’t know what they were, but we ended up consulting Georgia (Busch) because we just weren’t sure when we were on the beach sampling. The thing that surprised me the most though, was that we didn’t find more plastics. Our sampling location was right at the mouth of the Cape Fear, I was surprised there wasn’t more plastic deposition there.”

Busch said that one of the goals behind the report is to keep those interested up to date on what the Coastal Federation is physically finding and any advocacy or recommendations developed as a result.

Busch encouraged residents concerned about microplastics in their community to speak to their elected officials and local governments. 

A few local governments already have taken steps to eliminate microplastics resulting from damaged residential docks and piers in the region. North Topsail Beach, Surf City, Topsail Beach and Wrightsville Beach have passed ordinances prohibiting the use of unencapsulated polystyrene as structural components for any new floating docks.

“That’s a huge win for us,” she added. 

Contact Busch at georgiab@nccoast.org or 910-509-2838 ext. 206 to learn more about the report, the sampling program or information on ordinances to prevent microplastics pollution.

Dare County residents and property owners will have an opportunity to meet with officials to discuss the erosion affecting Hatteras Island.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18 in the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Building at 23646 N.C. 12 in Rodanthe, just south of Myrna Peters Road. To attend virtually, register online before the meeting.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten will give an overview of the logistics and funding models that have made previous beach nourishment projects possible in the county, and discuss the challenges regarding funding and prioritizing newly established beach nourishment projects.

Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity for both in-person and virtual attendees to ask questions.

There will be a livestream option during the meeting on Dare County’s YouTube channel. The video will be available after the meeting.

The public can submit comments or questions to be addressed during the meeting by email to DareCountyPR@DareNC.com no later than Jan. 16.

More information about Rodanthe beach erosion is available on the county website.

Joe Huie was not expecting this.

Sections of docks and roofs, lumber and handrails tossed by Hurricane Ian-driven waves and wind-littered soundfront shorelines in southern Brunswick County.

“This is the worst we’ve seen so far,” Huie said. The debris field scattered along sound banks back into marshlands from Brick Landing in Ocean Isle Beach to Sunset Beach was staggering, “for such a weak storm, to be honest.”

Huie and a small crew of fellow fishermen headed south from their base in Sneads Ferry four days after the Category 1 hurricane made landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina, a small town nearly 80 miles from Ocean Isle Beach.

Within three days, the crew filled a 40-yard dumpster with what they’d picked up so far.

Much of what is being removed makes the case that North Carolina needs to reinstate building codes for residential docks and piers and that property owners should thoroughly vet the contractors who build these waterfront structures, environmental stewards argue.

“Hurricane Ian provided a really good illustration of how persistent this kind of debris is, the docks and piers in our coastal wetlands,” said Kerri Allen, manager of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s southeast regional office and coastal advocate. “This is a storm that really had minimal impacts to the North Carolina coast yet it still brought a tremendous amount of dock and pier-related debris.”

Huie’s crew have been removing debris for the past 3.5 years from coastal marshlands spanning from Swansboro south to Brunswick County.

On cleanup days, the crew collects about 1 ton of material a day. Their work is part of a broad-scale effort by various agencies and groups, including the Coastal Federation, to remove marine debris clogging coastal marshlands and clumping up on spoil islands. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

These areas are largely tucked out of view from boaters skimming across sounds.

Until he was hired by the Coastal Federation to walk through marsh and remove debris, Huie said he never saw what lay scattered just beyond the shorelines of the New River.

“The debris we’re talking about is in the marsh and it’s everywhere in the marsh,” he said. “If you don’t get out and walk it, you don’t see it. We had no idea there was that magnitude of debris there.”

In the days following Hurricane Ian, he found an intact porch structure in an area of marsh near Sunset Beach.

“It’s very nice. The tags were still on the decking boards where it was built not too long ago,” Huie said.

Such a find is not unusual, or so debris removal crews have learned these last few years through the large debris removal program.

“That’s been something that’s been really startling for us is how many new structures that go into place that just aren’t up to par,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, there’s a number of contractors who purposely build subpar structures either to meet a price point or sometimes to keep themselves in business so it’s really important to do your research and find a contractor worth their salt who really knows the wave energy and engineers a structure that’s going to last.”

In 2020, the Coastal Federation partnered with government agencies, community groups and scholars to create the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan, one that focuses on cleaning debris and stopping it at the source.

One of the recommendations resulting from that plan is a push for stronger state building codes by reinstating rules pertaining to residential docks and piers.

“With all the awareness that has come about through the marine debris removal program we’re hoping to use that and lobby the North Carolina Building Code Council to put docks and piers back in and hopefully strengthen that language,” Allen said.

The council is a 17-member, governor-appointed board that adopts and amends state building codes.

A handful of local governments have amended their town ordinances in an effort to reduce marine debris by banning the use of unencapsulated polystyrene foam in the construction and repair of floating docks.

Wrightsville Beach earlier this month became the fourth town to ban the material. Over the summer, all three towns on Topsail Island added the ban.

The Coastal Federation’s work educating those beach towns about how much polystyrene litter has been found in coastal marshes has also made property owners aware of the issue, Allen said.

Funding for the cleanup came from a North Carolina General Assembly appropriation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program.

The Coastal Federation has applied for additional funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program to launch a full-scale education and outreach campaign around the issue.

“I think the biggest takeaway for the coastal property owners is to really just choose their contractor wisely,” Allen said. “A dock that you build in Wrightsville Beach is going to be very different than one you building Emerald Isle because of the wave energy and location and environment. No one wants to be rebuilding their dock after every major storm and so by investing a little bit more research and sometimes money upfront they’re going to have a structure that’s going to last many years longer and also not end up as marine debris on our coast.”

Allen said the federation is in the process of developing a cost-benefit analysis to give property owners an idea of the difference in costs to build a dock or pier designed to last several years through multiple storms versus those that may be damaged or destroyed in one storm.

“In general, the individual components range from about 30% to 100% more expensive in what we’ve seen,” she said.

Staff are also exploring insurance incentives where insurance companies reward customers who have better built structures by lowering their rates.

In the meantime, the Coastal Federation plans to post a brochure on its website that will give property owners tips on how to find reputable contractors and what to consider when determining the best type of structure for the area in which it is to be built.

“Really it’s making sure that you both understand what the specific conditions are at the site of your dock and making sure that they are building a structure that is going to fail at a point that you both agree on,” Allen said.

Huie said he’s concerned about marine debris from larger, more powerful storms than Hurricane Ian.

“I’m just really worried what would happen if we had a Category 2 or Category 3,” he said. “It would take us years to clean up. It may alter some of the habitats forever just from the debris.”

The state’s top coastal management official is expected to propose new rules in response to the collapse earlier this year of oceanfront homes on the Outer Banks and other beach houses currently at risk of falling into the ocean.

Proposed rules are expected to be presented to the state Coastal Resources Commission when it meets this month in Wilmington.

The commission and its advisory council meet at 9 a.m. Sept. 14 and 15 at the Holiday Inn, 5032 Market St., in Wilmington. The commission, which is composed of 13 appointed members, sets policy for the Division of Coastal Management.

So far this year, three unoccupied, oceanfront houses in Rodanthe have collapsed onto national seashore property. The destruction required extensive cleanups as debris spread along miles of seashore.

Related: Officials unsurprised as 2 more Rodanthe homes collapse

Presentations by Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac and Division of Coastal Management Director Braxton Davis are on the agenda for the commission meeting, which is open to the public but not expected to be livestreamed.

Davis is expected to present proposals for the potential rule changes that stem from discussions of a recently created interagency workgroup that includes National Parks Service and Division of Coastal Management officials and the Dare County manager and county attorney.

The changes are expected to focus on septic tank siting and repairs in ocean hazard areas of environmental concern. The approach was discussed by the task force as a “high priority/short-term action,” according to a memo from Davis to the commission.

About 750 of roughly 8,777 oceanfront structures were considered to be at risk from oceanfront erosion, with no dunes or vegetation between the structure and ocean, according to the memo, “and this situation is anticipated to worsen with increasing sea level rise and coastal storms.”

Davis states in the memo that when structures are imminently threatened by beach erosion, “a complex web of regulatory, legal, insurance, and financial assistance measures create uncertainty for property owners and coastal managers.” He said that some cases involve new property owners who make speculative investments in imminently threatened structures “due to the potential profits from continuing rental incomes and insurance payouts.”

He states that such structures can pose significant risks to public health and safety, impacts to aquatic species and shorebirds and their habitats and interference with public use of the beach.

“The public harms and costs associated with recent house collapses illustrate the need for a more holistic and proactive approach to addressing erosion-threatened structures,” Davis said in the memo.

Other business

The commission is also expected to receive the attorney general’s advisory opinion regarding the commission’s authority related to shellfish leases. In February, the commission asked for the attorney general’s opinion on whether floating structures for shellfish farmers would fall under a Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, agricultural exemption, whether the structures would infringe on riparian rights and whether local governments had authority to regulate the structures.

An update on Marine Fisheries Commission’s shellfish lease rulemaking is also planned.

The commission is expected to hear a request for variance on an oceanfront setback on Bald Head Island, consider adopting rule amendments on inlet area hazard boundaries, and approving a fiscal analysis to allow electronic payments.

Regarding beach management, the commission is expected to hear about proposed amendments to the minimum growing season for planted vegetation and oceanfront setback determinations, a proposed expanded exemption for beach mats, and an update on the Division of Water Resources Dredged Material Management Plan study.

The Coastal Resources Advisory Council during its meeting at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 is expected to discuss the status of rules for ocean fishing piers and provide an update on that discussion early in the commission’s Sept. 15 meeting. The council is a 20-member panel that advises the commission.

Early bird tickets are on sale now for this year’s North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium to take place Oct. 12-14 at Duke University Marine Lab on Pivers Island in Beaufort.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch hosts the annual symposium that brings together marine debris and plastic pollution prevention stakeholders to discuss recent research, infrastructure best management practices, policy development, removal projects, and advocacy that prevents plastic pollution. Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, based in Morehead City, works to protect 320 miles of rivers and streams, 140,104 acres of estuaries and 129 miles of coastline.

Organizers are offering in-person and virtual options. Early bird tickets to attend are $100, and $50 for live-stream access. Riverwatch members can attend for $75 or livestream for $35. These prices will change Sept. 1. Student tickets are $35. Register online at Coastal Carolina Riverwatch.

“We are thrilled to be hosting the NC Marine Debris Symposium at the Duke University Marine Laboratory here in coastal NC. We hope that this forum will continue to lead the progress of marine debris prevention in the State of North Carolina,” said Lisa Rider, creator of the symposium and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch executive director.

“At CCRW, we prioritize work based on research and voices from the community.  Plastic pollution is a top priority for our service area and CCRW has taken action by participating in watershed-based microplastic research, installation of capture and removal devices, supporting collaborative programming in our service area, facilitating prioritized policy development and advocacy that supports research and prevention,” Rider continued.

This year’s event will be facilitated by symposium alumni, Heather Cashwell, program manager of waste reduction and recycling at North Carolina State University. 

Speakers on this year’s agenda include leaders from Plastic Ocean Project, Duke University Marine Lab, North Carolina State University, Nort Carolina Sea Grant, Duke Law and Policy Clinic, North Carolina Coastal Federation, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, and others, including industry and consumer product designers. 

“The NC Marine Debris Symposium is a special collaborative space where all are welcome and everyone is a stakeholder,” Bonnie Monteleone, executive director of the Plastic Ocean Project, said in a statement.

All Topsail Island towns now prohibit using unencapsulated polystyrene, commonly called Styrofoam, for floating docks, piers and walkways.

The Surf City town council passed an ordinance July 5 and North Topsail Beach aldermen July 6 during their respective meetings, following the lead of Topsail Beach commissioners who approved on April 13 the first such ordinance in the state.

Though the language varies slightly in each ordinance, the three towns explicitly prohibit the use of unencapsulated polystyrene on any new floating docks, piers and walkways.

Related: Topsail Beach bans Styrofoam in floating dock construction

Kerri Allen, coastal advocate and southeast regional manager with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, said the town officials took action after learning about the federation’s recent large-scale marine debris removal.

“They were shocked with how much debris was found in the areas surrounding Topsail Island and reached out to the federation to see what they could do to help prevent it,” she said.

The Coastal Federation also suggested language for the ordinances.

Surf City Town Manager Kyle Breuer told that town’s council during its May 20 work session that the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission had advanced the proposed ordinance.

“These docks break up and you get microplastics in the marshes. This would have a big impact in the future by eliminating the use of this product. Topsail Beach has adopted an ordinance to ban these types of floating docks. This applies to materials being used moving forward,” Breuer said, according to the meeting minutes. During the next work session, aldermen moved the proposed ordinance to their July meeting consent agenda.

North Topsail Beach aldermen also heard the suggestion to ban unencapsulated polystyrene in May. That’s when Mayor Pro Tem Mike Benson gave a report on unencapsulated polystyrene. Aldermen then directed the town’s planning board to review the proposed ordinance before it went before the board to be approved.

Related: Topsail Island towns float plan to reduce plastic pollution

“Anyone who’s been in our waterways and seen the mess these dock floats leave behind after a storm knows just how pervasive they can be,” Allen told Coastal Review. “The efforts taken by Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach will keep immense amounts of harmful debris out of our coastal waters. We’re incredibly proud of these three towns, leading the way for a cleaner and healthier coast.”

North Carolina’s unique barrier island environment attracts millions of visitors each year with its long, sandy beaches, great fishing opportunities and nesting grounds for birds and sea turtles.

The largest crowds are often found mid-June through August, and as one of their busiest weekends approaches, the Fourth of July, the balance between visitor accessibility and park managers’ goals of maintaining and sustaining these areas for future generations to enjoy becomes most critical.

Superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Dave Hallac recently explained to Coastal Review that 2021 saw a record high number of visitors to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Around 3.2 million visitors flocked to the area during the year, compared to about a million visitors per year less a decade ago.

“Just the number of people that are here cumulatively can have impacts on the seashore in general,” Hallac said.   

Protecting North Carolina’s barrier islands from the effects of so many visitors takes a community effort from nonprofit organizations and federal and state agencies such as the National Parks Service, the Division of Coastal Management and its Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve program, along with law enforcement agencies and volunteers. Making sure the islands are preserved during peak season includes considering fire safety, maintaining trail and off-road vehicle access, and creating wildlife protection areas.

Fireworks

The use of fireworks is a major problem that comes with Independence Day at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Hallac said. Fireworks are illegal on all lands managed by the National Parks Service.

“Unfortunately, we are finding ourselves cleaning up hundreds if not thousands of fireworks. So that’s definitely an issue. The bigger concern is that those fireworks could start fires and have impacts either on the natural landscape or on the developed areas next to the park,” he said. 

The National Fire Protection Association found that an estimated 19,500 fires were started by fireworks in 2018 in the United States. And over a quarter of the fires started by fireworks from 2014 to 2018 were reported on the Fourth of July.

Beach driving

Cape Hatteras National Seashore offers annual and 10-day off-road vehicle permits for beach access. Impacts from inappropriate off-roading include damage to dunes or dune vegetation, along with safety hazards for visitors and wildlife.

“Even something as simple as airing your tires down to better drive on the beach can reduce the rutting and impacts on the beach itself and make it a safer place for other people to drive,” Hallac said. “There are other impacts that can occur. For example, when people are speeding, it can cause a safety impact and can also disrupt wildlife.”

South of Cape Hatteras, officials at Cape Lookout National Seashore also take steps to minimize the effects off-road vehicles can have.

Watch for wildlife

Cape Lookout National Seashore Chief of Interpretation and Education and Public Information Officer BG Horvat said park officials take precautions, such as blocking vehicle access to wildlife protection zones and areas of the beach where there are shorebird or sea turtle nests.

Shackleford Banks is part of Cape Lookout National Seashore and is populated by feral horses believed to have arrived on the island via a shipwreck in the late 1500s.

“Leave the horses 50 feet of space if you’re going to go see them, the length of a bus, and respect the wildlife that lives there,” Horvat said.

Pack out your litter

Horvat stressed that, when visiting Cape Lookout, it’s important to know that there aren’t many amenities at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

“You need to be self-sustained and have everything you need, and be prepared to take it out with you. Go and have a good time, but pack out your trash,” said Horvat.

North Carolina Coastal Reserve Southern Sites Manager Elizabeth Pinnix also stressed the importance of packing out your trash when visiting Masonboro Island, part of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve and one of the state’s most popular island destinations for the Fourth.

“Leading up to the holiday weekend, we install additional signage on the high traffic areas that remind people to pack out their trash. So, anything you pack in, you need to pack out to follow guidance that’s on the island,” she told Coastal Review.

The nonprofit Masonboro.org, along with the Division of Coastal Management, have made progress in driving home that message.

Masonboro.org, whose mission is to protect public access, promote responsible use and preserve the traditions of Masonboro Island, conducts litter cleanups on the undeveloped island. In 2015, volunteers with the group picked up their largest quantity of July Fourth trash, 5,800 pounds. In 2018, volunteers picked up about 1,800 pounds of trash on the holiday.

Since then, less than 1,000 pounds of trash has been picked up each year. That’s partly due to COVID-19 travel reductions but also thanks to education and outreach efforts. But there’s more to be done.

“Masonboro.org volunteers are staged on the northern portion of the island where most visitors land their boats on the Fourth of July – there are still 7 more miles of island that are not being actively cleaned up on the Fourth,^” Pinnix said. “Marine debris and litter, just like our erosion on beaches, is something that all our coastal beaches encounter. So, we are doing our best and doing our part to help with the marine debris problem in our state.”

Pinnix added that endangered species are nesting during the island’s peak season for visitors, including loggerhead and green sea turtles. She stressed that visitors should be aware of these nests.

As for how to balance public access and sustainability, “It’s something that we’re going to have to keep thinking about and moving towards,” Pinnix said. The sites should remain open and visited by the public, she said, because, “part of the reason we have such an appreciation for nature is because people are able to go out and enjoy it.”

Work to spread that message continues, she said.

“I think increasing our education and involvement with the public is going to be something big moving forward. Keep people engaged and understand that the systems are changing. And we want them to be here for as long as possible,” Pinnix said.

Steps are being taken at the federal level to reduce and eventually phase out single-use plastics on public lands in the next 10 years.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued Secretary’s Order 3407 Wednesday, on World Oceans Day, in an effort to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products on Interior Department-managed lands by 2032.

Single-use plastics include plastic and polystyrene food and beverage containers, bottles, straws, cups, cutlery and disposable plastic bags designed for or intended to be used once and discarded.

The order also directs the department to identify nonhazardous, environmentally preferable alternatives to single-use plastic products, such as compostable or biodegradable materials, or 100% recycled materials.

The Department of the Interior manages public lands and minerals, national parks, wildlife refuges, upholds federal trust responsibilities to Native American tribes and Native Alaskans and is responsible for endangered species conservation and other environmental conservation efforts.

“The Interior Department has an obligation to play a leading role in reducing the impact of plastic waste on our ecosystems and our climate. As the steward of the nation’s public lands, including national parks and national wildlife refuges, and as the agency responsible for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats, we are uniquely positioned to do better for our Earth,” Haaland said in a statement. “Today’s Order will ensure that the Department’s sustainability plans include bold action on phasing out single-use plastic products as we seek to protect our natural environment and the communities around them.”

The order is part of the implementation of President Biden’s Executive Order 14057, which was issued Dec. 8, 2021, and calls for federal agencies to minimize waste and support markets for recycled products.

Plastic waste is a priority environmental problem and threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change. Plastic pollution is also devastating fish and wildlife around the world, according to the department.

Less than 10% of the plastic that has ever been produced has been recycled, and recycling rates are not increasing. Of the more than 300 million tons of plastic produced annually, at least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. Plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep sea sediments.

Bags made of paper, bioplastics and composite can replace single use plastic bags, as can reusable cloth or thicker plastic alternatives. Bottles made of bio-based plastic, glass and aluminum, and laminated cartons can replace single-use plastic bottles, as can reusable bottles made of glass, aluminum or stainless steel.

Topsail Beach now bans using unencapsulated polystyrene, commonly known as Styrofoam, to build floating docks.

Town commissioners on April 13 approved an ordinance prohibiting use of unencapsulated polystyrene. The material is Styrofoam not encased in material to protect it against cracking, peeling, sloughing and deterioration from ultraviolet exposure and physical trauma, making the lightweight and inexpensive material leaves it vulnerable to heavy damage from storms.

“The banning of non-encapsulated dock floats by The Town of Topsail Beach continues our long-standing policy to protect the resources we have at Topsail. We all need to take steps that will continue to allow our children to enjoy our beaches and marshes while protecting the plants and animals with which we share our island home,” Topsail Beach Town Mayor Steve Smith said in a statement.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation praised the commissioners for taking action against marine debris in an announcement. The federation, which publishes Coastal Review and leads debris cleanups along the coast, also noted that Topsail Island is the first community in the state to adopt this type of ordinance.

The ordinance explains that during a coastal debris cleanup by the federation, large quantities of this material was found in town waters and marshlands. When exposed to the elements, it fragments into small, nonbiodegradable pieces that could be ingested by wildlife, ultimately blocking the digestive system and killing them through starvation.

Federation officials said they hope that Topsail Beach will pave the way for regulations that will not only protect the environment but also create more sturdy dock construction for coastal homeowners.

“The Town of Topsail Beach has been a tremendous partner throughout our marine debris removal projects, and such a strong voice on how important it is to keep these harmful materials out of our environment. With their ordinance, they are leading the way for other towns and communities in North Carolina to take action to prevent polystyrene from polluting our precious coast,” Coastal Advocate Kerri Allen said in a statement.

The federation encourages coastal property owners to consider switching to more durable construction materials when building or repairing a dock or pier.

An organization launched earlier this year that works to keep Carteret County litter free is hosting a countywide cleanup from 9 a.m. to noon April 23.

Litter Free Land and Sea is designed to support volunteer cleanups, facilitate business engagement and communicate the efforts of waste contractors to maintain the beauty and cleanliness of Carteret County, according to the website.

“Our goal is to provide a one-stop for all of your information, volunteer, and engagement opportunities. We value our citizens and their commitment to Keep our County clean,” officials said.

Participants are encouraged to register online to meet at one of the following locations:

• Peletier Town Hall, 1603 N.C. 58, Peletier.
• Fort Benjamin Recreation Center, 100 McQueen Ave, Newport.
• Train Depot, 1001 Arendell St., Morehead City.
• Grayden Paul Park, 718 Front St., Beaufort .
• Eastern Park, 450 N.C. 70, Smyrna.
• Salter Path Beach Access, 1025 Salter Path Road, Salter Path

Learn more on the Litter Free Land and Sea website.

TOPSAIL ISLAND – An island-wide initiative to cut down on plastic waste is gaining traction as Topsail’s three beach towns consider banning a type of material used to make floating docks.

Topsail Beach is leading the charge in adopting an ordinance that would prohibit unencapsulated polystyrene from being used in repairs and new construction of docks.

Town commissioners there recently gave administrators the green light to create a draft ordinance for the board to consider adopting at their April meeting.

Surf City and North Topsail Beach are expected to follow suit in what would be a major step in an island-wide waste reduction campaign that aims, in part, to promote plastic waste reduction by local businesses.

If approved, the ordinance would be the first in North Carolina banning the use of unencapsulated polystyrene in docks, Topsail Beach Mayor Steve Smith said.

Polystyrene is a plastic used to make various consumer products such as Styrofoam food packaging and coolers. When unencapsulated, polystyrene can break up with weathering, scattering clumps and small fragments in waterways and on shorelines. The material can degrade into microplastic, which can easily be ingested by wildlife.

“There’s no way that that can be cleaned up,” said Kerri Allen, coastal advocate and southeast regional manager of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wilmington office.

Since 2019, Coastal Federation-led crews have removed more than 2 million pounds of marine debris including abandoned boats, storm-damaged docks and homes, fishing gear, poorly managed construction sites, plastics in wastewater and stormwater discharges, and litter from coastal estuaries up and down the North Carolina coast.

Three- to four-man crews continue to pick up on average 2 tons of debris a day, Allen said.

About 75-80% of that is from docks, piers, gazebos and other waterfront structures.

Ability to choose

In 2020, the Coastal Federation launched the N.C. Marine Debris Action Plan in partnership with community groups, government agencies and academia, to clean up the clutter and promote building codes for structures like docks aimed at reducing post-hurricane and other coastal storm debris.

“As coastal property owners, anyone who has a dock or pier, you really do have the ability to choose a strong contractor that selects these best-management practices,” Allen said.

A majority of microplastics being recovered on the beaches are polystyrene beads, she said. Next month, the Coastal Federation is kicking off program where volunteers from North Topsail Beach in Onslow County down to Sunset Beach in Brunswick County will collect microplastics from the beach.

Topsail Beach commissioners during their March 9 meeting discussed what they would like to see in a draft ordinance, one that would require new docks be built using encapsulated polystyrene. Older, storm-damaged docks that have unencapsulated polystyrene would have to be repaired with encapsulated material.

A property owner must obtain a town permit to build a dock or pier.

Smith noted that most contractors are now using encapsulated polystyrene, “but the non-encapsulated is still available and so we want to ensure that as we go forward the non-encapsulated is not used.”

“There’s other issues here that we’ll have to work, but in terms of coastal management it’s taking the next step, no matter how small, it needs to be done at this point,” he said.

Carbon-copy ordinances

Surf City Mayor Doug Medlin said the plan is to essentially have a carbon-copy ordinance in each town.

“We’ll probably do something similar,” he said, adding that a unified ordinance will be discussed March 24 during the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission, or TISPC, meeting.

TISPC Vice-Chairman and North Topsail Beach Board Mayor Pro Tem Mike Benson said he expects a proposed ordinance for that town will be on the board of aldermen agenda next month.

“For me it’s a no-brainer because it’s the simple thing to do and it’s going to protect the environment,” he said. “We are in favor of everything that can be done to manage plastics on our beach.”

Between the staggering amount of debris being collected through the Coastal Federation’s initiative and firsthand observations by boaters and kayakers on the water, Smith said people are willing to start taking small but important steps that will eventually reduce waste.

“Our hope is that these three towns can really create a pilot ordinance that other towns can adopt,” Allen said.

Big turnout

Earlier this year, a meeting of stakeholders — everyone from town officials from each of the municipalities, business owners, realtors and property owners — was held for those in attendance to discuss ways to reduce the use of plastics and other disposable products on the island.

Pender County Tourism Director Tammy Proctor was hoping for a turnout of about 30 stakeholders. That number surpassed 90.

They’ve decided to take a step-by-step approach, one that is less about mandates and more about positive messaging that encourages property owners and tourists to change their habits.

“Glass on the beach (is not allowed). (Tourists) pack for the day and they bring it to the beach,” Proctor said. “Those are the kinds of things that we want to raise awareness for and a sign at the beach isn’t enough. We want to reach folks before they get here. This is all of our beaches. This is all of our waterways. Let’s all of us take care of our natural resources.”

Scott Franko, who sits on the board of the Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce and is the marketing director of Treasure Realty, plans to promote reusable shopping bags printed with a design of the island to grocery stores in the area and the beach municipalities on the island.

He had 10,000 bags made last year and began distributing them last August to businesses that are typical tourist hotspots.

Franko is also the man behind the BEach Clean poster with a short and to the point leave-no-trace message: use trash containers; no glass on the beach; pick up after pets; and fill in holes on the beach.

“It’s an educational program,” Franko said. “It’s an informational program. Over time we’re hoping to change consumer behavior. Over time we’re hoping to get the businesses around here to also change their behavior to change the consumer’s behavior. The goal is you want people to wanna. If they wanna do something that’s better than mandating something and to get to the point of wanna and buy-in you have to nurture a message enough and hope that a majority of the people get it.”

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Outer Banks Kampgrounds of America Resort in Rodanthe are partnering together on a series of beach cleanups.

The cleanups begin Wednesday and are to continue each Wednesday until April 27. Volunteers can pick up supplies between 10 a.m. and noon at 25099 N.C. 12 in Rodanthe.

Coordinators encourage volunteers to wear thick-soled footwear and bring leather gloves, hats, water, snacks and sunscreen. Those younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

“We are grateful to the KOA in Rodanthe for their efforts to host these volunteer beach cleanup events and help to steward the beaches at America’s first national seashore,” National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac said in a statement.

Those who plan to collect litter the beach outside the hours of the organized beach cleanup events should place garbage bags and debris above the high tide line to ensure the items don’t get washed back into the ocean.

For additional information on volunteer opportunities at the national seashore, visit www.volunteer.gov or call 252-475-9042.

Each year around 11 million metric tons of plastic enters the world’s oceans, but the introduction of plastic pollution policies came to a halt in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. During this time, there has been an increase in single-use and disposable plastics for personal protective equipment and packaging, and medical waste, new data suggests.

The Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief released Feb. 25 by Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions updates its 2020 Plastics Policy Inventory, a searchable, multilanguage database of hundreds of public policy documents targeting plastic pollution around the globe. The 2020 inventory showed a steady increase in policies being introduced from 2000 until 2019.

“The overall effect of the ongoing pandemic on plastic pollution and policy implementation is not fully understood yet, but a few findings are beginning to percolate,” said the brief’s lead author, Rachel Karasik, policy associate at the Nicholas Institute, in a statement.

“The increase in plastic consumption and waste resulting from the pandemic is happening at the same time that many governments are reversing or pausing implementation of plastics policies,” she continued. “Some countries, however, have continued to address plastic pollution by passing policies that are more comprehensive — for example, targeting single-use plastics other than plastic bags.”

The research suggests that, as of 2021, more than 8 million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste had been generated globally, with more than 25,000 tons entering the oceans, a figure that researchers say is likely to grow.

Despite the stall in public policy to combat plastic pollution on a national and international level since the pandemic began, efforts in North Carolina have continued and are building momentum, Lisa Rider, executive director of the Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, told Coastal Review. Coastal Carolina Riverwatch serves 320 miles of rivers and streams, including the White Oak River and the New River.

“Both single-use plastic and ADVs (abandoned and derelict vessels) are seeing policy improvement momentum on the local level, and we hope that trend elevates to statewide support for policies that work to reduce plastic waste, improve infrastructure and to enforce current regulatory measures that prevent marine debris,” Rider said.

About the Inventory

The 2020 Plastics Policy Inventory, which listed about 300 policies, was created to support the momentum to address plastic pollution by tracking policies introduced at the subnational, national and international levels from 2000 to 2019, officials said.

The team continued to work on the inventory over the past few years and now has more than 570 public policies listed. This brief is intended to be the first of many annual updates tracking worldwide trends and gaps in government responses to the problem.

Karasik told Coastal Review last week that the plastic policy inventory allows users to learn how governments are responding to plastic pollution.

This can help them better understand the types of plastic that become pollution “and the levers that can be pulled to mitigate their fate as marine pollutants. Users of the inventory can see where and how governments are targeting plastic, including assessing which plastic types and stages of the life cycle are targeted, and which instruments are used by governments,” Karasik said.

North Carolina and the global plastic pollution crisis

Though the inventory doesn’t focus on North Carolina, plastic pollution still a very real problem in the state.

“The plastic pollution crisis is global, so a piece of plastic waste that ends up on a North Carolina shore could have been produced or consumed in another country, just like a piece of plastic waste that is generated by a North Carolinian can end up on the shore of other countries,” Karasik explained. Because of this, “government responses to plastic pollution would ideally be comprehensive and coordinated, and the inventory is a tool that allows users to determine if they are.”

Karasik said that for coastal North Carolina the findings in the update mean two things.

“One is that plastic waste continues to increase, in part due to the ongoing pandemic, and the collective government response to that problem is not meeting the moment,” she said.

She’s hopeful that nongovernment organizations, area businesses and community groups “can help contribute to solve the problem by eliminating or limiting unnecessary single-use plastics, hosting regular cleanups in waterways, clearly communicating the risks associated with plastic consumption and disposal, and making reusable alternatives accessible for all, especially folks in underserved and low-wealth communities — especially if plastic waste is accumulating in coastal North Carolina.”

Karasick said the other point is that the inventory can be a resource for coastal North Carolinians to see what other governments, such as Virginia’s, are doing in similar situations to address plastic pollution so that they can begin to advocate for similar policies in this state.

“We are hoping that the inventory can cut down on the time it takes for policy makers and advocates to identify exemplary policies that they want passed in North Carolina, and they can fight for them,” she said.

What’s happening at the state level

Karasik noted that in North Carolina local governments cannot easily pass local laws to address plastic pollution. In 2017, Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of House Bill 56 that repealed the eight-year plastic bag ban on the Outer Banks was overridden by the legislature. Earlier this year, she noted, there was a public push in Durham to pass an ordinance to charge a fee per plastic bag, which would not need General Assembly approval.

“Therefore, in the realm of government responses to the crisis – beyond waste management laws, which are local – those of us in North Carolina may have to rely on national laws to move us forward in addressing the plastic pollution crisis for the foreseeable future,” she said. “To be sure, there are ongoing efforts by people and groups all over the state to try to pass ordinances to reduce plastic pollution, but it is important to acknowledge the challenges here in North Carolina to passing increasingly progressive and comprehensive plastics policies within and across the state.”

There is an opportunity to learn what’s happening in North Carolina next month through the North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium. Under the direction of Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, the symposium is an annual event planned for October of this year focusing on recent developments, program ideas and best management practices for marine debris prevention, education and removal.

Organizers of the Marine Debris Symposium have expanded the symposium’s reach by adding a spring workshop focused on North Carolina plastic policies.

The NC Plastic Policy Workshop set for April 29 is to provide local planners and elected officials with policies for combating single-use plastics and abandoned derelict vessels, Rider said. The workshop includes hands-on policy development with the intent that what is learned is brought back to attendees’ communities. This limited-ticket, $15 workshop is being hosted in partnership with the Duke Law and Policy Center.

Rider said there also is a new statewide effort, the NC Plastic Reduction Coalition, that includes dozens of organizations working on plastic reduction and removal efforts from the mountains to the coast. “This group meets twice a month and most recently lead a statewide campaign aimed to bring awareness to legislators and highlight removal and prevention efforts,’ she said.

Rider also mentioned that according to the 2021 Water Quality for Fisheries Program, both recreational and commercial fisheries representatives identified plastic pollution as one of the top five water quality concerns that impact coastal fisheries in North Carolina.

And on the international level

The United Nations Environment Assembly called Wednesday a “historic day in the campaign to beat plastic pollution.” During the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, heads of State, ministers of environment and other representatives endorsed the End Plastic Pollution resolution and put in motion an international, legally binding agreement.

“Against the backdrop of geopolitical turmoil, the UN Environment Assembly shows multilateral cooperation at its best,” said Espen Barth Eide, fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly president and Norway’s minister for climate and the environment, in a statement. “Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today’s resolution we are officially on track for a cure.”

The resolution establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee that will begin its work this year. The committee is expected to present the agreement by 2024, “which would reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation,” officials said.

Karasik told Coastal Review that it was encouraging to see the international policymaking community convening to target plastic pollution with legally binding agreements.

“Our research and that of our peers has consistently demonstrated that there are gaps in the collective governance of plastics at each stage of the life cycle, that efforts to combat this crisis are often not comprehensive and coordinated, and that plastic pollution and production continues to outpace waste management capacity,” she said. “I am hopeful that this agreement fills those gaps and encourages ​continued momentum by governments, industry players, and communities to reduce plastic production, trade, consumption, and disposal — and holds them accountable if they fall short. We hope the Plastics Policy Inventory can provide insights that will help achieve and monitor compliance with the agreement’s goals.”

The Nicholas Institute provided the following list of other findings in the brief:

• Regulations, such as bans on the use of specific types of plastics, tend to be the policy tool favored by governments for addressing plastic pollution. Research shows that these policies, as well as taxes and fees, are most effective when paired with public education or outreach campaigns, but these approaches are rarely coupled on the national level.
• National policies have increasingly targeted plastic bags and other single-use macroplastics, or larger pieces of plastic, since 2017. There is also movement toward considering the benefits and harms of substituting fossil-fuel-based, single-use plastics with biodegradable or compostable ones.
• Growing scientific evidence shows that microplastics, including microbeads in toothpaste, clothing fibers and tire abrasions, have a significant ecological impact. Yet few national policies exist to address them, and there “appears to be little to no momentum in acting” at the national level.
• Policies targeting the production and use of plastics outnumber policies targeting the management of plastic waste.
• Nearly 130 countries have at least one national or subnational policy documented in the inventory. The policies are written in 34 languages.

“We really encourage folks using the inventory to pull out and review policy documents within the inventory — we have over 570 — and read them for themselves to understand what governments are and are not doing to approach plastic pollution,” Karasik told Coastal Review, adding the public is encouraged to reach out if they know of policies that not in the inventory or to answer questions.

The public is invited to a community discussion this week about the oceanfront houses in Rodanthe in danger of collapsing on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches.

The meeting is from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Building at 23646 N.C. 12 in Rodanthe.

National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac, Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch and Dare County Planning Director Noah Gillam are scheduled to be at the in-person meeting to discuss the recent collapsed house, provide updates on other oceanfront houses and answer questions from community members.

Related: Cleanup of fallen house begins; beach near site closed

A house in Rodanthe collapsed into the ocean morning of Feb. 9. The owner of the home contracted with W.M. Dunn Construction, LLC of Powells Point to remove the house and all associated debris. National Park Service rangers observed debris along 15 miles of beach to the south of the collapsed house site, officials said earlier this month. The National Park Service organized a volunteer beach cleanup on Feb. 14 to help the owner cleanup the extensive amounts of debris spread along the seashore.

This report has been updated.

Cleanup of the house that fell into the ocean last week on a rapidly eroding stretch of Outer Banks beach has begun, now that National Park Service officials have approved the necessary permit.

The work means that the section of beach on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore near the site of the house in Rodanthe is temporarily closed.

With debris spread along about 15 miles of beach to the south of the collapsed house site, area residents are invited to help with the beach cleanup on a drop-in basis. Volunteers will be provided with gloves, garbage bags and trash pickup sticks by the National Park Service for the organized effort. To receive supplies, volunteers should meet National Seashore rangers at either the Outer Banks KOA Resort at 25099 N.C. Highway 12, Rodanthe, or off-road vehicle ramp 23, just south of the village of Salvo.

Related: Rodanthe house falls into ocean, officials warn of debris

Officials said Sunday that much of the wood pieces that have washed up on the beach have exposed nails, so all volunteers are encouraged to wear thick-soled footwear. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

“We are very appreciative of Dare County residents and Seashore visitors who have pitched in from day one of the house collapse by picking up and moving large amounts of debris to above the high tide line,” said National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac in a statement. “Additionally, we are thankful to the Outer Banks KOA Resort and North Carolina Beach Buggy Association for partnering with the Seashore.”

Volunteers should place garbage bags and debris above the high tide line to ensure the items don’t get washed back into the ocean.

Park Service officials said Friday that the owners of the house had submitted a removal plan and hired a contractor to complete an extensive cleanup of the house and “many miles” of National Seashore beach.

“After a careful review of the plan, the Seashore this morning issued the homeowner a special use permit to immediately begin removal work,” officials said.

The owners of the house hired W.M. Dunn Construction, LLC of Powells Point to remove the house and all associated debris. National Park Service rangers have observed debris along about 15 miles of beach to the south of the collapsed house site.

“The large debris field from the fallen house poses a risk to Seashore visitors,” Hallac said. “We have been in contact with the owner of the home since the day of its unfortunate collapse and appreciate his efforts to follow through on submitting a removal plan and hiring a contractor to clean up the beach and eliminate hazards.”

Officials said visitors should use caution when participating in recreational activities on the beach and in the ocean between the villages of Rodanthe and Avon due to debris from the collapsed house.

Sections of the collapsed house and its associated debris were seen in the surf line and well beyond. Surfers and mariners are also advised to use caution in these areas.

Wood debris that washes up on the beach might contain sharp, exposed nails, which could cause harm to pedestrians and damage to vehicle tires, officials warned.

Beachgoers who observe chemicals or other hazardous materials are asked to call 252-473-3444 to report it.

Officials said short-term beach closures south of the house site may continue to be necessary. Beach closures will be announced at http://go.nps.gov/beachaccess.

Preventative measures

Dare County officials had been working with the owners of the house to demolish or remove the structure from its precarious perch before the structure collapsed.

“We have been in contact with the homeowner over the course of the last year to try to motivate him to implement some action to either relocate the house or completely demolish the house, and I believe the homeowner was in the process of doing all that. But the ocean evidently was working faster than he was,” Dare County Planning Director Noah Gillam told Coastal Review late Wednesday.

The house had not been occupied in about a year, Gillam said. Its septic system had been destroyed during a previous period of extreme high tides or swells. “So, when that happens, we don’t allow a structure to be occupied.”

Since the collapse, county officials have looked at other properties nearby and are letting the owners know that they should take steps against the threat of erosion.

“I was down there this morning with several of our building inspectors and we did canvass the neighborhood,” Gilliam said Wednesday. “We walked up and down Ocean Drive, and we do have a list of several other structures. I can’t say any of them are in immediate threat of collapse, but there are some that we are notifying the property owners that there are things they need to take action on, proactive measures to try to secure steps and decking, in case or in the event that the erosion or high tide does continue to threaten.”

Vulnerable area

The area where the home collapsed has some of the highest erosion rates on the North Carolina coast.

The shoreline at the site of the collapse had moved 284 feet at a rate of more than 13 feet per year on average in the years between 1998 and 2019, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Digital Shoreline Analysis System. The DSAS is software used to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions. The data was posted on Twitter by Michael Flynn, physical scientist with the National Park Service Outer Banks Group and a former coastal scientist with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

The house, which was once on private property, was on the National Seashore when it collapsed. That’s because of North Carolina’s doctrine that ocean beaches are in the public trust.

“Even when much of what is referred to as the dry sand beach erodes, the Seashore’s boundary — based on our interpretation of our establishment and all of the deeds — is generally always at least from the low-tide line to the high-tide line,” Hallac told Coastal Review Friday. “Now, even that is a complicated statement, because the low-tide line and high-tide line change over time, right, especially as erosion is occurring. But generally, if you’re within that zone, we consider it Cape Hatteras National Seashore property.”

Cape Fear River Watch is launching a new project to cut down on the amount of litter getting into the Atlantic Ocean.

The nonprofit organization has purchased catch basins that are set to be installed in a handful of storm drains in Wilmington and Leland, the town that sits west across the Cape Fear River, to intercept litter from getting into the river.

The “80% Project” — a title referencing estimates that 80% of marine litter comes from land-based sources — will study the effectiveness of LittaTraps, catch basins designed by a New Zealand-based company called Enviropod.

Cape Fear River Watch received a grant of a little more than $9,500 to purchase four of the mesh, basket-like traps, which are designed to sit inside stormwater drains. The grant, funded by the Jandy Ammons Foundation, will also cover the cost of signage that will be placed at the drains where the traps are installed.

The traps capture trash and other debris carried by stormwater from getting into a drainage system.

Robb Clark, Cape Fear River Watch’s water quality programs manager, is overseeing the project, which entails tracking for one year what kind of trash and how much of it is captured by the traps.

The traps are to be emptied weekly, and trash and debris, such as leaves and other yard debris, captured at each drain will be sorted and then weighed.

Clark said that by tracking by weight the amount of trash collected from the LittaTraps, the organization will have reliable data on how much trash is being caught before it enters the river and, ultimately, the ocean. That information could turn out to be a major selling point to municipalities to budget for future investment in additional traps.

Officials in Wilmington and Leland have agreed to install traps in two storm drains. The city and town determine in which drains to place the traps, which are to be maintained by Cape Fear River Watch for one year.

Adrianna Weber, Leland’s town engineer, said in an email that if the traps are a success, “the Town will absolutely look into continuing the use of these devices and similar technologies.”

“We want to keep our community and the waterways in and surrounding our community safe and clean,” she said in the email. “LittaTraps are just one way to help accomplish this goal for our residents and the natural habitats around Leland. The Town regularly checks and cleans stormwater catch basins; therefore, the maintenance of the LittaTraps would align well with our current maintenance operations.”

Leland partners with Cape Fear River Watch to host two stream cleanups each year.

“Anywhere there are public roads and rights-of-way there is always the possibility of trash accumulating over time, but fortunately, the Town does not currently have any major issues with trash and litter,” Weber said. “Maintaining clean roadways, waterways, and public areas is important to the Town and something we maintain focus on through programs like our regular street sweeping and stream clean-ups.”

During a March 27, 2021, cleanup along Mill Creek in the Surgeon Creek watershed, about 140 pounds of bagged trash, about 70 pounds of recycling, and 100 to 150 pounds of miscellaneous trash was collected, including a flat-screen television, car seats, cushions and a large pallet, according to a report provided by Weber.

In May, about 130 pounds of bagged trash, 20 pounds of recycling and 150 to 200 pounds of miscellaneous trash, including wood, shingles, metal car parts and furniture, were picked up along Navassa Road near the creek.

Last year, more than 7,000 pounds of trash was collected from monthly litter sweeps hosted by Cape Fear River Watch, Clark said.

“The vast majority of litter that we find in our watersheds is plastic of some kind,” he said. “Cleanups alone are a Band-Aid on a bleeding artery. I could do cleanups every day and we would still be behind. You need structural solutions like this to intercept litter that the cleanups are just not going to be able to get.”

LittaTrap’s mesh basket is designed to capture and retain 100% of plastics and “other gross solids over 5mm,” according to Enviropod’s website.

Plastics in the ocean are a global problem.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an organization made up of more than 1,400 government and civil society organizations, at least 14 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean each year.

Clark said he isn’t aware of municipalities on the East Coast using LittaTraps, but there are communities on the California coast that do.

In 2020, the California State Water Board certified Enviropod’s LittaTrap FC, or full capture, basin insert as a full capture device for trash treatment control.

The traps are available in three standard sizes to fit various catch basin structures. Custom designs and filter liners designed to capture different pollutants are also available.

Cape Fear River Watch will likely purchase liners designed to capture generic litter, such as plastic bottles and bags, Clark said.

Liners must be replaced every three to five years and cost about $30 each.

“As for the maintenance itself, they only recommend you need to go into them quarterly,” Clark said. “That’s not a lot of labor and time input. It’s very hands off. They’re designed to hold up to 600 pounds of litter or debris.”

Clark said he hopes the traps will be installed some time in February.

“Wilmington has a pretty massive (litter) issue,” he said. “I anticipate that to increase year after year based on the way Wilmington’s population is increasing. It’s important to keep these things out of the river. We get our drinking water from the Cape Fear River.”

Whole crab pots in good condition recovered in the northeast during the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s eighth annual Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project last month can now be reclaimed with proper identification.

Two dozen commercial watermen and women spent several days in January retrieving lost crab pots from the sounds in the northeast and central regions of the coast as part of the annual project funded this year by North Carolina General Assembly.

Recovered crab pots with an identifiable buoy that could be used again were set aside during the cleanup project in the northeast region, which includes from the Virginia state line, Manteo to Swan Quarter, and areas from the Outer Banks to Ocracoke.

To claim ownership of any of the gear can make an appointment with Sara Hallas, the Coastal Federation’s northeast coastal education coordinator based at the Wanchese office. Appointments are available on weekdays from Feb. 1-18. To schedule an appointment call, 252-473-1607.

Any gear left unclaimed will be recycled to the best extent possible.

This project is part of the Coastal Federation’s overall effort to ensure a North Carolina coast that’s free of marine debris. Establishing an annual paid program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is a key objective of the N.C. Marine Debris Strategic Plan.

For more information on the progress of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project over past years, visit the website. 

The North Carolina Coastal Federation last week began the 2022 version of its lost fishing gear recovery project, an effort to remove lost crab pots and other that gear can create serious hazards to boaters, wildlife and other fishermen.

For the past eight years, the federation has hired commercial fishers to collect this lost fishing gear during January, the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots, north of the Highway 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.

This year on Jan. 8, 24 commercial watermen began collecting crab pots. Each crew works between three and five days over the course of the month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., depending on the weather. The project is taking place in parts of Marine Patrol District 1, which covers the northeast region, and District 2, the central region of the coast.

“Being on the water nearly every day as a full-time commercial fisherman, it’s important to remove the lost pots and keep our waters clean and safe. This project provides work during the closed season and that’s very valuable to me and many of the other participants,” said Chris Forbes, a project participant from Hertford.

Once the pots are collected, they are recycled to the best extent possible. Crab pots that are recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region will be available for the rightful property owners to reclaim after the cleanup is complete.

Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator for the federation and project leader, said she’s excited to clean up the waterways and create opportunities for work during this time of the year.

“This project wouldn’t be possible without the support of community organizations and our commercial watermen and women, who have consistently expressed that helping with this project and protecting waterways is important to them,” she said.

This project is part of the federation’s overall effort to ensure the North Carolina coast is free of marine debris. Commercial watermen and women in partnership with North Carolina Marine Patrol removed 3,128 pots from select areas within all three Marine Patrol Districts in 2021.

Establishing an annual paid program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is a key objective of the North Carolina Marine Debris Strategic Plan. The North Carolina General Assembly funded the project this year. It is intended to improve habitat, water quality and support coastal economies.

The Coast Guard and state and local partners have been working with the owner of a Wanchese-based shrimp trawler to remove the disabled vessel that ran aground last week on the Outer Banks.

The Coast Guard announced that as of Sunday afternoon, 6,500 gallons of diesel fuel and 1,000 gallons of oily water mixture had been removed from the fishing vessel Bald Eagle II, which grounded Dec. 7 in the Duck and Southern Shores area. Four fishermen were airlifted by Coast Guard crews that morning. No injuries were reported at the time.

The vessel owner contracted with Moran Environmental Recovery to remove the hazardous substances. With the majority of fuel on board recovered Sunday, the focus shifted to finding remaining pockets of oily water in the fuel tanks. All oil and hazardous substances were expected to be removed Sunday, officials said.

A vessel from Charleston, South Carolina, was on its way to Duck to tow the vessel to Hampton, Virginia, for repairs.

A representative from U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic public affairs told Coastal Review on Monday that an announcement will be made when the vessel was completely removed.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina is investigating the cause of the grounding.

A Coast Guard crew airlifted four fishermen Tuesday morning from a disabled fishing trawler drifting toward the shore near Duck.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders received a call around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday from the captain of the fishing vessel Bald Eagle II stating that his vessel was disabled and drifting towards shore, officials said Tuesday.

“The water temperature near Southern Shores is currently 56 degrees, which is dangerous had these four men not been prepared,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Hall, operations unit controller for Sector North Carolina, said in a statement. “Fortunately, these men were wearing survival suits to prevent hypothermia when our rescue helicopter arrived.”

A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew and a Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew arrived on scene. The aircrew hoisted all four men and transported them to the air station. No injuries were reported, officials said.

“We are coordinating with the vessel’s owner with a plan for freeing the vessel,” said Petty Officer First Class Stephen Lehmann with U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Public Affairs, according to a report from OBX Today.

The Coast Guard shared video of the rescue on Facebook.

A new mobile app gives observers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia a way to document interactions between animals and marine debris.

A part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, the Tangled in Trash: A Reporting Tool for Wildlife app stores data in one place, allowing natural resources agencies to study how marine debris affects wildlife populations and to develop solutions, officials said.

The app uses Anecdata, a free online citizen science platform developed by the Community Lab at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

“We’re eager for people to begin documenting what they’re seeing in North Carolina and across the region,” Gloria Putnam, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal resources and communities specialist, and a member of the team who provided input for the app, said in a statement.

Kelly Thorvalson, conservation programs manager for South Carolina Aquarium and coordinator for the project, said that Tangled in Trash will collect several types of key information.

“More than 200 species of wildlife have been documented as being affected by marine debris, but interactions are not well understood,” Thorvalson said in a statement. “This tool will house reported wildlife and marine debris interactions to help users, researchers, wildlife responders, and others identify critical trends and concerns and strategize actionable solutions.”

After submitting a report, observers will be encouraged to contact wildlife responders for live animals and certain types of deceased animals.

In North Carolina, they will be directed to contact the following:

• Stranded marine mammals: the University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Network, 910-515-7354.
• Stranded sea turtles: North Carolina Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network Hotline, 252-241-7367.
• Injured birds and nonmarine mammals: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Wildlife Helpline: 866-318-2401 or https://www.ncwildlife.org/injured-wildlife.

Join the Tangled in Trash project by downloading the app.

North Carolina Department of Transportation crews, contractors and volunteers have collected since Jan. 1 more than 12 million pounds of litter from roadsides, making this a record-setting year.

In 2019, NCDOT forces and volunteers set the previous record by collecting 10.5 million pounds of litter statewide.

“People all across North Carolina worked tirelessly to pick up more trash in 2021 than in any year previous,” said state Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette in a release. “The best way we can thank them is by making sure they don’t have to work as hard in 2022. Everyone should do their part to keep litter off our roadways in the first place. Keeping North Carolina beautiful starts with everyone doing their part.”

The department’s litter-management programs are multifaceted and makes use of state-owned forces and contract services statewide, according to the state.

NCDOT’s Sponsor-A-Highway Program allows businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor litter removal along roadsides. NCDOT is also a partner with the more than 120,000 participants in the Adopt-A-Highway Program, where volunteers pledge to clean a section of our highways at least four times a year.

If you spot someone littering from their vehicle, report them with NCDOT’s Swat-A-Litterbug app by downloading the app at ncdot.gov/litter. 

North Carolina Sea Grant is set to work with Sea Grant programs in Connecticut and New Hampshire to study contaminants of emerging concern in coastal and freshwater environments.

Residues of products often found in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, household cleaning products, industrial chemicals and plastic microfibers are the kinds of contaminants that are found more and more in surface and groundwater, posing risks to drinking water and wildlife. Short- and long-term effects of these contaminants, however, are not yet well understood.

A federal grant of $850,000 for the Sea Grant programs to study these contaminants is one of three announced on Sept. 13 by the National Sea Grant office focusing on freshwater systems management, Connecticut Sea Grant officials said this week. The other two grants were awarded to New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and to a collaboration of the Illinois-Indiana, Minnesota and Pennsylvania Sea Grant programs.

Natural and social science approaches will be invited to participate in the project that will look at the science around the contaminants to help identify areas in need of further study, significant potential risks and possible mitigation strategies.

Environmental justice considerations are to be factored into the project, in recognition that underserved communities are often those most greatly affected. The work will also involve outreach to educate the public about the issue and how people can reduce their own contributions to contaminants in the environment, officials said.

“Sea Grant’s latest investments demonstrate our commitment to address knowledge gaps to improve the management of freshwater resources at the interface of both coastal and Great Lakes environments,” said National Sea Grant College Program Director Jonathan Pennock in a statement. “These initial efforts will identify the key challenges and inform strategies to be implemented by the Sea Grant network related to contaminants of emerging concern, runoff pollution and flood resilience.

Katie Mosher, communications director for North Carolina Sea Grant, told Coastal Review Thursday that the principle investigators include two from North Carolina Sea Grant: Susan White, executive director, and Frank López, extension director,

White and López also each have leadership roles for North Carolina’s Water Resources Research Institute, and can draw upon existing partnerships for both programs in the state and nationally. White also has experience as director of a federal lab that had a focus on human health and environmental connections.

López is to lead the development of a “community of practice” that will include extension specialists across the Sea Grant network and other key partners. Regional workshops are planned for training and discussion. 

“This could be a new national focus for the Sea Grant network. It is exciting to be helping to lead this effort, one that also can bring direct impacts for our state,” López said.

This post has been updated to reflect this year’s Oyster Week dates. The NCDEQ website has 2020 dates.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation will “Shellebrate” NC Oyster Week Oct. 11-15 with volunteers during an event with salt marsh and oyster monitoring and a marine debris cleanup.

The federation and volunteers will assess from 9-11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, shoreline oyster reef and salt marsh restoration projects at Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve, 52 acres of coastal shrub scrub and forest habitat, salt marsh and tidal creek areas with more than 3,000 feet of shoreline along Stump Sound.

Register online to participate in the free event.

Volunteers will be shown how to monitor salt marshes and oysters, no special skills or knowledge are needed to help.

Salt marsh monitoring will include estimating how much and what kind of vegetation is growing in the restored area and using survey equipment to measure the shoreline profile changes.

Oyster monitoring will include opening up shell bags from the reef, measuring and counting oysters, and identifying other organisms. This monitoring helps the federation evaluate the restoration projects’ progress and report these findings to the permitting agencies and funding sources.

While monitoring oysters and salt marsh, volunteers will be given supplies to cleanup marine debris. All project supplies and equipment as well as snacks and refreshments will be provided. There are no restrooms at the site, but a port-a-potty will be on site.

Federation members and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, North Carolina Land and Water Fund and Pew Charitable Trust helped make the project possible.

Organizers expect hot and humid temperatures and encourage visitors to dress for working in wet and muddy conditions such as wearing clothing and boots or closed-toed shoes that can get wet and muddy and bring a water bottle, hat & sunglasses and any medications.

A project began Monday to remove select abandoned and derelict vessels from the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is coordinating the project funded through a National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program grant award with Dare County and the state Division of Coastal Management.

The goal of the project is to remove at least 20 abandoned and derelict vessels that currently harm important habitat such as oyster reef, submerged aquatic vegetation, shallow subtidal and coastal wetlands in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary, according to the federation.

Division of Coastal Management staff identified numerous abandoned and derelict vessels and other large-scale marine debris negatively impacting different habitats within the Currituck Banks and Kitty Hawk Woods component of the North Carolina Coastal Reserve. Additional abandoned and derelict vessels have been identified throughout Dare County and some pose a threat to safe navigation.

The project will conclude when contractor Moran Environmental Recovery has removed the targeted vessels.

Another goal of this grant-funded project is to create a replicable case study on how to clean up abandoned and derelict vessels and other medium- and large-scale marine debris by combining local, state and federal resources and make it available to a broad range of stakeholders.

This effort is in conjunction with other North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan efforts. The Action Plan provides a framework for strategically reducing the amount and impact of marine debris along North Carolina’s coast for the next five years.

To learn about the progress of this work and the federation’s efforts to create a coast that is free of marine debris, visit nccoast.org/marinedebris. Contact Michael Flynn with any questions at michaelf@nccoast.org or 252-473-1607. 

Drop-in volunteer beach cleanups are planned for 7:30-11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Coquina Beach Access and Ocracoke Beach Access, both part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 

Staff with seashore, host of the cleanups, will meet volunteers near the restroom facilities at each location. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. All volunteers are encouraged to bring leather gloves, water, snacks and sunscreen and wear appropriate clothing, such as hats and closed-toed shoes.

Also that morning, the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association members will be stationed at off-road vehicle ramps where visitors can grab a trash bags for collecting litter. Participants in the association’s cleanup are asked to deposit trash bags at ramp entrances for collection when leaving the beach. For more information on NCBBA’s beach cleanup, contact Tom Brueckner at tom.brueckner@ncbba.org.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Wright Brothers National Memorial, visit www.volunteer.gov or call 252-475-9042.

Carteret Big Sweep is calling on volunteers to #ConnectAndCollect as part of Ocean Conservancy’s 36^th International Coastal Cleanup, or ICC, a worldwide cleanup effort.

The county-run Carteret Big Sweep works to educate the public on litter and encourage cleanups.

Volunteers are asked to either join a scheduled cleanup or lead their own to remove trash from roadsides, waterways, beaches and the ocean and record their findings in the Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app, a marine debris database, available for free download from the App Store and Google Play.

“This year’s ICC is a time to safely reconnect with our ocean and our loved ones while helping to remove debris from roadsides, beaches and waterways,” said Dee Smith, Carteret Big Sweep’s coordinator in a statement.  “We highlight this annual event to bring awareness to the growing litter and marine debris problem by bringing the community together for one day.  Additionally, Carteret Big Sweep and Carteret County has continued year-round efforts to keep our county clean with ongoing events and programs.” 

Register your individual, household or business-sponsored cleanup online or join one of the following public cleanups for ICC Sept. 18 Carteret County:

• Iron Steamer Beach Access, Pine Knoll Shores 8 a.m.
• 10th Street Beach Access, Morehead 9 a.m.
• Gallants Channel Maritime Property, Beaufort 9 a.m.
• Atlantic Beach Circle, Atlantic Beach 9 a.m.
• Cape Carteret Aquatic Center, Cape Carteret 11 a.m.

Every year an estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic waste flows into the ocean, impacting more than 800 marine species and even entering the food chain, according to the release. During the last 35 years of the ICC, more than 16.5 million volunteers have joined cleanup efforts to remove 344 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways worldwide. In 2020, Carteret County collected and recorded 42,789 pounds of trash and debris. 

“No matter where you are or the size of your cleanup, every piece of trash collected by ICC volunteers helps to stem the tide of plastic entering our ocean,” said Allison Schutes, director of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup in a release. “We’re excited to be able to come together for this year’s ICC, both through community cleanups events and small group cleanups; and we are so grateful for the efforts of Carteret Big Sweep and all the Carteret County volunteers in helping us achieve our shared vision for a cleaner, healthier ocean.”

To schedule a group cleanup or learn more about the scheduled cleanups, visit Big Sweep’s Facebook page or contact Dee Smith 252-222-6365. 

More than a dozen commercial and recreational fishers worked together over the past year to remove 1 million pounds of marine debris created by past hurricanes from the central and southeast coasts.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, which is heading up the effort in partnership with the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, received nearly $2 million in funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program for the removal of marine debris and abandoned and derelict vessels, left behind by Hurricane Florence.

The milestone was reached last week, according to the federation.

The 30 fishers worked in small crews to clean up public trust waters, lands and dredge spoil islands in and around the Rachel Carson Reserve, Fort Macon State Park, Hammocks Beach State Park, Permuda Island and Masonboro Island reserves, and Carteret, Onslow, New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

The crews would take small skiffs and collect the debris by hand. Each crew has picked up an average of 2,000 pounds, about a ton, of debris each day.

Marine debris impacts sensitive coastal habitats, wildlife, and water quality. The debris contains harmful chemicals that may leach into the ecosystem effecting animals, including fish and shellfish consumed by humans. Large deposits of debris pose hazards to navigation, fishers, and marsh vegetation, according to the federation.

More than 8 million pounds of litter have been collected from state roadsides so far this year.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s crews, contractors and volunteers collected the 8 million pounds of litter since Jan. 1. At this rate, NCDOT said it will exceed the 10.5 million pounds of litter collected in 2019.   

“We’re less than two months away from our annual Fall Litter Sweep, and we’re counting on everyone to help keep this momentum going,” said state Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette in a statement. “Please do your part by securing your loads before traveling, throw away trash in garbage bins, recycle when you can and make sure your friends and family do the same.” 

The 2021 Fall Litter Sweep will be held from Sept. 11-25. To learn more about the litter sweep, visit the program’s webpage. To sign up, visit the website.

When consumer goods, typically single-use disposables, are littered or improperly managed, this trash can find its way into rivers, streams and other waterways, which end up in oceans, where the trash becomes marine debris, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “Trash, packaging, and improperly disposed waste from sources on land accounts for 80% of the marine debris found on beaches during cleanups and surveys.”

Marine debris can cause a range of problems including injure or kill marine and coastal wildlife, damage and degrade habitats, interfere with navigational safety, cause economic loss to fishing and maritime industries, degrade the quality of life in coastal communities and threaten human health and safety, according to the Department of Interior.

Litter prevention starts with the awareness of state litter laws that improperly disposing trash of any kind can be illegal.

“Not only is it unsightly, litter costs millions of dollars to clean up and can have a negative impact on tourism and how people perceive the state while they travel through it,” according to the state.

NCDOT’s Sponsor-A-Highway Program allows businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor litter removal along roadsides. NCDOT is also partners with the more than 120,000 participants in the Adopt-A-Highway Program, where volunteers pledge to clean a section of our highways at least four times a year. 

If you spot someone littering from their vehicle, report them with NCDOT’s Swat-A-Litterbug app by downloading the app at ncdot.gov/litter.  

The average person ingests 100,000 pieces of microplastic each year, according to the North Carolina Coastal Federation. That number is double if they only drink bottle water.

The federation is hosting the North Carolina Coastal Microplastics Forum 9 a.m. to noon July 15, for attendees to learn more about microplastics and whey they’re are a problem, both for human health and the environment. Register for the virtual forum hosted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation on Zoom.

Attendees can learn about the different types of microplastics pollution, the sources and pathways of these contaminants into waterways, the risks they pose to both the natural environment and human health, as well as policies aimed to govern microplastics pollution and how to help.

Contact Ana Zivanovic-Nenadovic, assistant director of policy for the federation at 252-393-8185 or anaz@nccoast.org.

Our oceans are awash in debris, mostly plastic, but there’s a fair amount of Styrofoam, aluminum cans and cigarette butts in the blend. It’s a toxic mix for sea life.

An estimated 100 million marine animals die every year because of marine debris.

A recent peer-reviewed paper by North Carolina State University researchers may offer a way to raise public awareness about the dangers of marine debris and change behavior.

The paper, “Youth Can Promote Marine Debris Concern and Policy Support Among Local Voters and Political Officials,” published in the journal Frontiers in Political Science, suggests that young people have influence.

“Many of the most sweeping social movements throughout history have been youth-led, including those related to environmental challenges,” the study’s authors wrote.

The study with fourth and fifth graders seems to support the concept that intergenerational engagement can effect change in communities, although it is unclear how long those changes will continue, the study notes.

“As research on both the dynamics of intergenerational learning and strategies to address marine debris continue to emerge rapidly, there are multiple avenues for future research,” according to the paper.

To understand the influence youth can have on adult awareness and behavior, researchers created a yearlong course of instruction. The curriculum for fourth and fifth grade teachers was written by educators and meets state science standards. There’s a combination of classroom work, field research, a creative art project and presentation, homework that engages parents, and documentation of the work, including a student film of what the kids discovered along the way.

Working with a number of school districts, the curriculum was introduced into 32 counties across the state and covered two school years, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

“We had Carteret and Onslow counties. We had counties in the Piedmont including Robeson, Wake, Orange, and then there’s a couple farther west … It really was spread across the whole state,” said Jenna Hartley, the study’s lead author. Hartley is a doctoral student in the North Carolina State University Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management.

The first step was training the teachers.

“We brought them out to the Duke University Marine Lab (in Beaufort) for two nights. We took them to the Rachel Carson Reserve, and they picked up trash there,” Hartley said. “Some of these teachers (said), ‘I haven’t been to the beach in 12 years.’ It was really kind of a beautiful professional development workshop. We valued their expertise and valued them as professionals. I think that carried a lot of weight.”

Once introduced into the classroom, the students took over.

“I’m not going to get the quote exactly right,” Hartley said, “but it was along the lines of, ‘I’ve never taught like this before, and I can’t believe how much of it has just been me trying to get out of their way.’”

As successful as the curriculum appeared to be in the classroom, it was in public engagement that some of the most notable effects of the program were seen.

Surveys were conducted during the eight, in-person events held during the 2018-19 school year. During the following year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, only one in-person event was held. Students developed online public service announcements that researchers used to recruit local officials. They contacted 1,984 local officials via email for online events.

Researchers during the in-person events handed out about 300 survey cards. For both in-person and online events, 65 voters and 107 local officials responded to questions about levels of their marine debris concern and the likelihood of their policy support.

In examining the data, researchers were able to track reactions from the adults that came into contact with the students.

They found that adults, after hearing from the students either in person or online, reported increased concern about marine debris and support for policies to address the issue. Although officials also generally showed support for policies that address marine debris, their support was more cautious.

“Together with some of our other work on kids influencing adults, this study is pointing to a real potential for kids to have a powerful seat at the table,” Kathryn Stevenson, assistant professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University, said in a statement. “Kids can play a real and needed part in the political process, especially if we’re making decisions about their futures. We need to consider their perspectives.”

Hartley was careful in addressing why that seems to be the case, but her answer underscores the complexity of moving action to policy.

“It’s just a hypothesis based on the data, but perhaps the local officials understand a little more of the processes and bureaucracy involved with actually moving the needle on policy, and that could have impacted their answers,” she said.

The report also found that “political polarization would lessen among all adults. Specifically, polarization decreased around marine debris concern, but differences were not detected for polarization in support of policies to address marine debris.”

One finding that may seem counterintuitive was that family or personal connections with the students appear to have little or no effect on how adults reacted to concerns about marine debris.

“Surprisingly, (that) only 12% said that they (adults) previously had some type of relationship to the student is remarkable. And what’s cool about this is that students can be impactful,” Hartley noted.

There is still work to be done, particularly in measuring the impact of youth engagement over time, Hartley said, but what has been learned about youth involvement makes her hopeful.

“We have a lot to learn about how powerful the effect is, how long the effects last, how big of a difference it can make, and quite frankly, with whom,” Hartley said. “But so far the results are really encouraging, especially for kids to know that they have power and even educators and parents should understand that kids can have a really important voice in their communities.”

More than 6 million pounds of litter have been collected from state roadsides so far this year by North Carolina Department of Transportation’s crews, contractors and volunteers.

About 6.3 million pounds of litter have been picked as of Wednesday up from roadsides as a part of this year’s litter removal efforts, around the same amount that was collected in 2020. The state is likely to surpass 2019’s record, when 10.5 million pounds of litter were collected.

“We are on track to pick up more litter in 2021 than in any year previous,” said state Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette in a statement. “But to truly solve this problem, North Carolina must begin dealing with litter proactively. Secure your load, don’t throw trash out the window and do your part to make sure others know this too.”

NCDOT’s litter management programs has many facets including NCDOT’s Sponsor-A-Highway Program, which businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor litter removal along roadsides. NCDOT also partners with more than 120,000 participants in the Adopt-A-Highway Program, where volunteers pledge to clean a section of our highways at least four times a year.

Report litterers to NCDOT’s Swat-A-Litterbug app, which can be downloaded at ncdot.gov/litter.

The 2021 Fall Litter Sweep will be held between Sept. 11-25. More details will be available closer to the event.

Officials say everyone should do their part by to combat litter by securing trash before driving to prevent roadside litter, disposing of garbage of properly and recycling when possible.

An area Boy Scout wants to bring attention to the marine debris issue in Carteret County and help do something about it.

Ryan Mroch, a Morehead City based Scout, has organized a Carteret County Trash Trawl scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24, during low tide at Gallants Channel in Beaufort.

He said the trawl will be comparable to the Big Rock fishing tournament, “but with a big difference … participants will collect trash instead of fish.”

Volunteers can bring their nonmotorized boats, like kayaks, paddleboards and sailboats to collect marine debris in waterways. Those without access to a nonmotorized boat can collect trash on land in the Gallants Channel area.

At the end of the event, prizes will be announced for the top three contestants who collect the most trash by weight. First place will receive a trophy and a $50 Floyd’s 1921 Restaurant gift certificate and second and third places will receive trophies and $25 Floyd’s gift certificates.

Mroch made the trophies that will be presented by melting down recycled aluminum into ocean-inspired shapes that he mounted to driftwood recovered from a beach.

The 14-year-old Morehead City Middle School student is currently working on the Scouts BSA Hornaday Silver Medal, a conservation award that requires four Eagle-level projects that have a research component. He is in BSA America Troop 446 and Sea Scout Ship 7730.

To earn the Hornaday medal, Mroch chose four projects in  energy conservation, soil and water conservation, fish and wildlife management, forestry and range management, air and water pollution control, resource recovery (recycling), hazardous material disposal and management, invasive species control.

“Carteret County has a marine debris issue. I decided to take my interest in conservation to help tackle this problem to help me earn my Hornaday medal,” he said.

Visit cctrashtrawl.com or email cctrashtrawl@gmail.com to register or find out more about the project.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is calling for volunteers to join in a debris cleanup from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 8, in Wanchese.

Meet at Peele Family Dentistry, 2038 N.C. 345, to check in with organizers and collect supplies such as trash bags, gloves and other cleanup materials.

Federation staff will direct staff small groups of volunteers where to work and to maintain safe distances while conducting the cleanup. It will be required that volunteers wear a mask or face covering.

Organizers recommend volunteers dress appropriately for the weather because this cleanup will take place outdoors. Sturdy shoes for walking in wet areas are also recommended, especially boots, and bring water, a snack and any medications.

The debris cleanup of the estuarine shoreline and roadsides is part of a districtwide spring cleaning initiative.

Because capacity is limited, organizers ask volunteers to register ahead of the cleanup  you plan to attend.

Contact Sara Hallas, federation coastal education coordinator, at 252-473-1607 or sarajh@nccoast.org.

Students can help keep Carteret County beaches clean this summer while earning volunteer hours with Carteret Big Sweep.

The Summer Solo Cleanup program through Carteret Big Sweep is recruiting students to collect litter from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend at beach accesses.

Carteret Big Sweep works to educate the public on litter and provides educational opportunities on waste reduction, recycling, and other alternatives to the landfill such as composting and vermicomposting, according to the organization.

Students are being asked to commit to a minimum of 25 volunteer hours between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. A solo effort to maintain social distance, students will be assigned busy sections of beach to clean and will be provided with all equipment needed for a safe and effective cleanup.

Carteret Big Sweep has also scheduled monthly roadside cleanups across the county where there has been an increase in debris. The cleanups are at 9 a.m. every third Saturday of the month. The next monthly cleanup will be at 9 a.m. Saturday on Harkers Island Road. Meet at the parking lot of Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center.

We work year-round with volunteer groups that are often businesses, civic organizations, neighborhoods, youth, families and other groups or individuals. Our efforts remove litter before it can cause harm to humans, wildlife and the environment.

If you would like more information on these projects or dates and locations for upcoming events, contact Dee Smith at dee_edwards-smith@ncsu.edu or visit Facebook at @carteretbigsweep.

More than 3,000 crab pots were collected from coastal waters earlier this year during a collaborative effort to address marine debris.

The Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Program provided $115,599 for the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, which was headed up by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, to hire 60 commercial watermen and women to collect lost crab pots in January from the Virginia line to Cape Carteret.

Pots typically end up lost as the result of weather and can become hung in structures such as bridges or drift into channels over time, increasing the likelihood of buoy detachment by vessel traffic.

“We all take great pride in our livelihoods and waterways. In my opinion, this project has been unbelievable in helping keep our waterways clean and to make sure that the crab mortality rates continue to remain low, since removing the gear also frees any fish or crabs left behind,” said Mike Mixon, who has been fishing for 36 years and docks in Wanchese.

This year in Marine Patrol District 1 from the Virginia line to Ocracoke, 42 commercial fishers in 21 boats collected 2,243 crab pots. In District 2, which spans from Ocracoke to Emerald Isle, nine boats with 18 commercial fishers removed 766 crab pots. Boats worked anywhere from three to seven days, depending on the Marine Patrol district, according to the federation.

“This project has established truly remarkable partnerships among different user groups,” said Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator for the federation and project lead, in a release. “I’m proud of the crews that were involved for their diligence and patience to carefully comb our waterways and get them as clean as possible. The combination of knowledge and expertise of these groups working together for a common goal is crucial to the project’s success, year after year.”

Separate from the project efforts, the North Carolina Marine Patrol removed 119 pots in waters District 3, from Cape Carteret to the South Carolina line.

Keith Bruno, a lifelong commercial fisherman from Oriental, said it’s important for him to participate in this project because “You take care of what feeds you and this (Neuse) river feeds me. It feeds my family, it feeds my spirit, it feeds my wallet, and it feeds my soul.”

In Marine Patrol District 1, whole pots in good condition recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound areas were sorted, stored and made available for the rightful property owners to claim. More than 500 crab pots were returned to owners through this process.

“Although fishermen spend days or weeks looking for their gear, often it is not found. A new crab pot could cost an average of $50, making it too valuable to lose intentionally,” John Silver, a commercial fisherman docked in Wanchese said.

The project began in 2014, established to partner with commercial fishers to create work during a slower time of the year due to colder waters and what is now a month-long blue crab fishery closure. A recent update to the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan implemented to end overfishing and ensure sustainable harvest set the 2021 pot closure period for the entire month of January, which is longer than in years past.

“I’m grateful to have participated in the fishing gear cleanup project because the adjusted closed season caused a financial setback for me and many others this year,” Jody Jarvis, a longtime commercial fisherman from Columbia said in a release.

The annual program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is an objective of the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan. The federation also worked with Dare County Public Works and coordinated with the state Division of Marine Fisheries and North Carolina Marine Patrol for this project.

For more information, visit nccoast.org/crabpotproject or contact Hallas at 252-473-1607.

Carteret Big Sweep is adding to its year-round cleanup efforts Fill My Bucket List Campaign,  monthly roadside cleanups and the Solo Summer Cleanup.

The Fill My Bucket List Campaign is to help volunteers get cleanup supplies. For $30, volunteers will get their own grabber, gloves and a bucket with a list of possible litter finds to locate while completing their own cleanups or participating in other Carteret Big Sweep events. Proceeds from cleanup kits will purchase additional supplies for group events.

Dee Smith, coordinator for Carteret Big Sweep said she hopes the campaign impowers volunteers to take action to reduce litter in Carteret County.

To order cleanup kits, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/manage/events/146754698253/preview_publish. Orders will be taken through April 12. Bucket pickup is planned for April 23.

Big Sweep is also coordinating monthly cleanups that will be held at 9 a.m. every third Saturday on major roadways where there has been an increase in debris.

Volunteers can meet at 9 a.m. April 17 in the parking lot at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center for the next cleanup, which will be on Harkers Island Road. All supplies will be provided for volunteers. Locations are subject to change based on need, but will be within the same general area. For the schedule of events and to sign up for the public cleanups visit,  http://carteretcountync.gov/704/Big-Sweep.

The Summer Solo Cleanup program is for students who need to earn community service hours. Students are asked to commit to a minimum of 25 hours to clean up litter from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend at beach accesses. Students will be assigned busy sections of beach to clean. All equipment for a safe and effective cleanup will be provided.

Carteret Big Sweep works year-round with volunteer groups from businesses, civic organizations, neighborhoods, youth, families and other groups or individuals. The organization works  remove litter before it can cause harm to humans, wildlife and the environment. Carteret Big Sweep provides educational opportunities on waste reduction, recycling, and other alternatives to the landfill such as composting and vermicomposting.

For more information on these projects or dates and locations for upcoming events, contact Smith at dee_edwards-smith@ncsu.edu or visit Facebook at @carteretbigsweep.

Several restoration projects will be tackled this spring through a partnership between Conservation Corps North Carolina and North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The partnership, made possible with a grant from Duke Energy Foundation, will have six Conservation Corps members between 18 and 27 traveling to parts of the central and southeast coast to work with the federation to remove marine debris, restore shorelines and valuable habitat, and assist with stormwater and trail projects. The members will camp for 10 days at a time while working on the projects, which will begin the end of March and continue through mid-May.

“We are thrilled CCNC can partner with the federation on a living shorelines project,” said CCNC Program Director Michael Meredith in a statement. “To our knowledge, this is the first time a Conservation Corps program has worked on a living shorelines project. This will be an increasingly important way for our young people to serve North Carolina communities and protect its most valuable habitats.”

The crew will partner with the federation and Cape Lookout National Seashore to remove large-scale marine debris at Core Banks at the end of the month.

The crew will also build and plant living shorelines at a variety of sites including Carolina Beach State Park, Morris Landing in Onslow County, and at several properties in Carteret County through April. Other projects that will take place in May include trail blazing at the federation’s future headquarters office in Ocean, and rain garden maintenance.

“We are excited about this opportunity to clean up and restore the coast with CCNC and teach them about important coastal habitats and strategies for protecting them along the way,” said Sarah Bodin, coastal specialist for the federation.

The Corps’ mission is to engage youth and young adults in meaningful conservation service work that benefits North Carolina communities, and connects them to nature and the outdoors. While in the field, young people learn sustainable and innovative coastal management techniques, earn valuable certifications and job skills, and understand the need for more sustainable management techniques to meet the challenges of North Carolina’s rapidly changing coastline, according to the release.

“We’re pleased to support projects like this that protect and expand access to North Carolina’s natural treasures, especially as more people are engaged in outdoor activities,” said Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president. “We are grateful for the important work CCNC is doing to protect the environment of our great state.”

Volunteers can drop in between 7:30 and 11:30 a.m. April 17 for a beach cleanup at Coquina Beach Access on Bodie Island.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff will meet volunteers at the bathhouse. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Coquina Beach Access can be reached via N.C. 12, and is directly across from the access road to the Bodie Island Lighthouse between Nags Head and Oregon Inlet.

Concurrent with the Seashore beach cleanup event, North Carolina Beach Buggy Association members will be stationed at off-road vehicle ramps where visitors can obtain trash bags for collecting litter. Participants are asked to deposit the trash bags at ramp entrances for collection when leaving the beach. For more information on the association’s beach cleanup effort, contact Tom Brueckner at tom.brueckner@ncbba.org.

All volunteers are encouraged to bring leather gloves, water, snacks and sunscreen and wear appropriate clothing, such as hats and closed-toed shoes.

Beach cleanups also are scheduled for June 12 and Sept. 18.

For additional information on volunteer opportunities at the National Seashore, visit www.volunteer.gov or call 252-475-9042.

As the eighth annual North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium was taking place online last month, work was about to begin on removing an abandoned and derelict vessel from Onslow County waters near Swansboro.

Ben Solomon, environmental specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, shared the news about the removal of the 50-foot shrimp trawler during the symposium Feb. 10-12. He, along with other stakeholders of the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan gave short presentations on projects taking place since the plan’s introduction at the 2020 Marine Debris Symposium in Beaufort.

The commercial shrimp trawler in Queens Creek, near Hammocks Beach State Park, has been removed and the contractor has completed a bottom scan to ensure that all debris related to this vessel was removed, Solomon told Coastal Review Online Monday.

The salvage contractor arrived on site on Feb. 15, but there were project delays due to the deteriorated vessel structure and poor weather conditions.

“First one down, quite a few to go,” he said, mentioning that the Wildlife Commission is in the process of beginning a few other removal projects in Carteret County. The North Carolina Coastal Federation also is gearing up to remove vessels on the coast in the next couple of weeks, as well.

The federation announced Monday that more than 80 vessels will be removed starting this month in partnership with the commission and the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

An initiative of the federation, the Marine Debris Action Plan leadership team spent years collaborating before the final plan was unveiled last year.

Sara Hallas, education coordinator for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, explained to the couple dozen attendees of the symposium in February that the federation works to protect water quality and found that marine debris is playing a critical role in effecting water quality and habitats.

The federation has made ridding the coast of marine debris one of its five major goals as an organization, Hallas said. “We realized that this was an important factor to others as well,” inspiring the federation to recruit a leadership team to compile the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan.

The team includes along with Hallas, Rachel Bisesi, Sarah Bodin, Bonnie Mitchell and Leslie Vegas, all with the federation; Paula Gillikin, central sites manager for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve; Gloria Putnam, coastal resources and communities specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant; and Lisa Rider, North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium organizer and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch executive director.

Hallas said during the symposium that the purpose of the plan is to have a strategic approach to collaborate efforts over the next five years to reduce marine debris and its impacts.

The plan has five goals: lead and coordinate, prevent, remove, prevent and remove abandoned and derelict vessels, and research and assessment.

“The Advisory and Implementation Committee met recently, and it was apparent that the collaboration that the action plan has inspired has been one of the major keys to success. I’m excited to see this positive energy continue building, as we keep making forward progress on implementing the action plan,” Hallas told Coastal Review in a follow-up interview.

This committee has representatives from the Crystal Coast Waterkeeper, Coast Guard, American Chemistry Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, North Carolina Aquarium at Jennette’s Pier, Carolina Recycling Association, Plastic Ocean Project, Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, town of Beaufort, Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Management, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Carteret Big Sweep and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Each goal has subcommittees to give the work momentum and keep moving forward, Hallas said during the symposium.

Jan Farmer is the Topsail Area coordinator for Ocean Friendly Establishments, which coordinates with businesses to make environmentally friendly decisions such as reducing the use of single-use plastics.

Farmer said to symposium attendees that the business education subcommittee, under the goal to prevent, has designed a survey to gain baseline knowledge on how businesses feel about single-use items. Late last year, the subcommittee added COVID-19-related questions because some changes in priorities were expected.

The survey is available online now and currently being distributed to a wide variety of businesses.

The state-implemented North Carolina Green Travel Initiative members already provided survey responses, which Farmer said is about a quarter of the anticipated volume of replies.

“While these preliminary results indicate that many respondents feel reducing or eliminating single-use products is a priority, COVID has caused 25% of these businesses to shift their priorities surrounding single-use items,” she said. “At the same time, more than half of the respondents have indicated that their volume of waste generated has increased due to COVID.”

Farmer added that the initial survey results show that Styrofoam appears to be the least preferred to-go packaging, with most businesses looking to invest in biodegradable or compostable products.

The results of the survey will be used to tailor business education programs.

Paula Farnell, director of development and operations for Jacksonville’s Sturgeon City, an environmental education center, said that the K-12 education subcommittee under the prevention goal has been working on a Marine Debris Education Resource Guide.

“The idea here is a full list of the available resources already out there for folks to help get educated about or educate others about marine debris,” she said. There will be a link to the activity, recommended grade levels, a brief summary, necessary materials and any associated links.

Details are being finalized and the guide should be ready in the next few months.

Farnell added that in 2020 they were able to reach more than 8,000 students and 1,355 educators and professionals that took part in 214 different educational programs. She said that the Turtle Trash Collectors Program funded by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program reached the majority of the students. The hope is that the resource guide will increase that reach even more.

Carteret County towns are also making a dent in the marine debris problem said Dee Smith, coordinator for Carteret Big Sweep, a year-round collaborative program between North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension and the Carteret County government.

Smith explained that a lot of work has been accomplished to prevent marine debris in county.

“We want to thank municipalities like the town of Beaufort and the town of Atlantic Beach for setting such great examples,” she said.

Beaufort, through multiple partnerships, has removed tons of large-scale marine debris, conducted a cleanup of abandoned and derelict vessels and officially endorsed the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan, she said.

Atlantic Beach partnered with the Crystal Coast Waterkeeper to install signs and beach cleanup baskets at each of the town’s 22 beach accesses. The signs encourage promotion through social media and features a QR code that allows visitors to directly download the NOAA marine debris tracker.

Smith also recognized this year’s Big Sweep volunteers, especially the students who committed 25 hours of their time to cleanup seven beach accesses throughout peak season. A total of 193 cleanups were recorded from July 4 through Sept. 7, 2020, with 327 volunteers working 465 hours. The work resulted in 2,129 pounds of debris removed from those beaches.

“We will continue this summer beginning Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day weekend, and expand our efforts to 10 beach locations,” she said.

Two working subcommittees have been tackling large-scale marine debris removal as part of the action plan.

“One of those committees focuses on addressing and implementing marine debris removals, and the other committee focuses their efforts on storm response and recovery,” Bodin, of the federation, said during the symposium.

“In 2020, a large-scale marine debris removal effort took place, and it is still continuing into this new year,” she said. The Division of Coastal Management, which received funding through Natural Resources Conservation Service to remove abandoned and derelict vessels and marine debris from Hurricane Florence, partnered with the federation on implementing these cleanups.

The federation hired five crews of made up of 26 area fishers, who worked from Carteret county to Brunswick County.

“Crews have removed over 690,000 pounds of storm debris from these areas last year and that has equaled out to over 2,100 average sized bathtubs, which is absolutely incredible,” she said.

The crews were trained to follow NOAA’s best management practices for debris removal in sensitive habitats. They remove debris by hand and used their personal vessels to transport the debris to nearby dumpsters that are then brought to an area landfill.

A large portion of the debris removed consisted of materials from damaged docks destroyed during the storm, such as pressure-treated wood, decking boards and large pilings. Consumer debris and construction material were also removed.

Bodin noted that there are multiple partners focusing on various actions and projects under the removal goal and the effort she highlighted is a small piece of the work being accomplished.

Solomon during the symposium told attendees that one objective under the goal to prevent and remove abandoned and derelict vessels is to work with partner organizations to create and populate a database of these vessels, which he said was accomplished in 2020.

The database was created for all abandoned vessels in the state in partnership with the federation, Division of Coastal Management, Wildlife Resources Commission and the Coast Guard Emergency Support Function, ESF 10, pollution assessment team, while the ESF 10 crew made Florence reassessments in the summer and fall of last year.

Currently, about 156 vessels are accounted for – and there’s probably more out there — most from hurricanes Florence and Dorian, a few from Hurricane Matthew and a few vessels have been there for the past 10 years or so, he said.

The commission also worked to develop a searchable geographic information system map of abandoned and derelict vessels. The interactive, online map will allow for post-storm field data collection, which is when a lot of data is collected on these vessels, Solomon said. The data will then auto-populate the public view map. The app, which should be ready by the next storm, will make collecting data much more efficient.

Another objective was to get authority from the North Carolina General Assembly to remove vessels, Solomon said. A 2019 law gave the Wildlife Resources Commission $1 million to inspect and remove abandoned and derelict vessels from Florence and other past storms. In 2020, another law was passed defining abandoned and derelict vessels and outlining a process for notifying the public and taking ownership of the vessel for removal.

The Division of Coastal Management, Wildlife Resources Commission and the federation hosted two workshops in 2020 to increase awareness of state funding for removal and start discussions with Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, counties to develop related rules.

Solomon said that another objective was to coordinate vessel removal with other organizations to increase efficient use of funding.

Gillikin, with the reserve, who was moderating the discussion during the symposium, said that the effort is unprecedented in North Carolina.

Putnam, with North Carolina Sea Grant, explained that for the research and assessment goal, a project is underway with a North Carolina State University team and partners to better understand how much and what kind of plastics are being carried by the Neuse River to the Pamlico Sound.

The two-year project is being funded by NOAA National Sea Grant and NOAA marine debris program. The project involves sampling for plastic pollution using different methods at 15 locations in rural and urban areas from the top of the basin near Raleigh to New Bern in the Neuse River Basin.

Sampling began the summer of 2020 and continues every other month. The samples are being analyzed at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Data will be collected and analyzed through June, she said.

“We want to better understand the relationships between microplastics and macroplastics, as well as understand what’s coming from urban versus rural areas,” she said. The plan is to refine sampling protocols and share which methods work best at certain types of locations with others with similar work.

“Finally, we’ll have some tangible data that we can use to support education and outreach targeted plastics pollution reduction,” she said.

Also over the past year, the research and assessment team made a list of current or recent marine debris research in the state accessible at the Marine Debris Symposiums’ webpage, under the research tab.

The document includes potential project funding sources and a list of research priorities.

This resource will give people a guide to what is going on in the state, and help make connections with and between researchers, she said.

Starting this month, dozens of storm-related abandoned and derelict vessels that are possible environmental and navigational hazards will be removed from coastal waters.

The nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation is working with state and local partners to remove more than 80 abandoned and derelict recreational and commercial boats between Manteo and Sunset Beach.

The Coast Guard and its contractors mitigated the pollution from most vessels soon after displacement but residual polluting and hazardous materials could still be onboard. Removing the vessels from the environment will both reduce marine debris and any remaining pollution impacts on coastal habitats such as oyster reef, submerged aquatic vegetation and marshes. Some of the vessels also pose a threat to navigation safety and public health, as well, according to the federation.

The state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and the federation assessed, documented and prioritized the abandoned vessels for removal. The commission tagged the vessels, the last step before removal can begin once contractors are secured.

The Wildlife Commission, Department of Environmental Quality agencies, Coast Guard and others will to continue to strengthen pre-storm planning and post-storm response to displaced vessels after these round of removals is complete, according to the federation.

“For the first time ever, North Carolina is mounting a comprehensive effort to rid our coast of these broken down boats that blight our coast. The federal, state and local partners and multiple funders, along with support from the General Assembly, have come together to make this happen. We are enthusiastic about the removal of so many vessels posing environmental, health and economic risks to our coast,” said Todd Miller, federation executive director, in a statement.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program is funding the removal of 25 vessels in Pamlico, Carteret, Craven, Onslow, Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick counties. The state Division of Coastal Management, in partnership with the federation and North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission, received the award.

In Currituck and Dare counties, 20 vessels will be removed with funds from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program grant, in partnership with Dare County, the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and the Wildlife Commission.

“We are a proud participant in this removal effort,” said Ben Solomon, environmental specialist of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, in a statement. “It speaks directly to our agency’s mission to conserve North Carolina’s wildlife resources and their habitats, and to provide opportunities for wildlife-associated recreation. Clearing the boat debris is imperative to protecting North Carolina’s diverse aquatic and coastal species and maintaining a clean environment for outdoor enthusiasts who recreate along our state’s coastline.”

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NOAA’s Marine Debris Program also awarded the federation funding to remove 35 vessels in Pamlico, Carteret, Craven, Onslow, Brunswick and New Hanover counties.

“The complexity of planning this large-scale effort required close coordination over a long period of time. And the result will quickly benefit our coastal resources and those who live, work and play among them,” said Paula Gillikin, central sites manager for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve System, under the Division of Coastal Management.

The effort to remove these vessels was given a boost in 2019 when the General Assembly appropriated $1 million to the Wildlife Commission for vessel removal. Gov. Roy Cooper approved final legislation in July 2020 updating language to authorize the commission to remove these storm-related vessels. The legislation helped expedite abandoned boat removal while also protecting boat owners’ private property rights.

The federation-led efforts to build on large-scale marine debris removal have resulted in more than 910 tons of pressure treated wood, floats and other trash and debris being removed from coastal waters since Hurricane Florence in September 2018.

To learn about the progress of this work and the federation’s efforts to create a coast that is free of marine debris, visit the organization’s webpage on marine debris. 

Eastern North Carolina’s roadsides, beaches and parks are up for a spring cleaning May 8 through an effort organized by 3rd District Congressman Dr. Greg Murphy.

It’s one of a couple of litter cleanups planned for the coming months, in addition to a separately organized effort set for March.

Murphy is joining in on the “Third District Spring Cleaning” May 8. Those who would like to participate should RSVP online. Participants may receive a follow-up email with further instructions. Volunteers can post photos to social media of the debris they collected using #SpringCleanTheEast.

“While driving through the district my wife Wendy and I noted how our beautiful eastern North Carolina has a significant roadside trash problem, and we felt the need to address it,” Murphy said in a statement. “I brag in D.C. that we have the most beautiful district in the country and frankly, given the trash problem we have, it is hard to keep saying that. We attempted to have this day set aside last year but had to cancel due to COVID-19 lockdowns. But the problem now is too dire and so we are moving full steam ahead this year.”

The 3rd district includes Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, part of Pitt and Tyrrell counties.

“The prevalence of litter and debris is unfortunately a coastwide issue and an omnipresent hazard to wildlife and humans. The Third District Spring Cleaning event is an excellent initiative to address this issue through a community based activity.  I hope the event spurs continued action to preserve and enhance our environmental quality and the coastal economy that depends on it,” said Michael Flynn, coastal advocate for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office.

Murphy is asking everyone in the 3rd District — Republicans, Democrats and independents alike —  to join him in the cleanup.

“Please join your local church group, YMCA, civic leaders, rotary club or other community organization to give eastern North Carolina a wonderful spring cleaning. So much of our economy is based upon tourism and we want to showcase how beautiful our district is to the rest of the state and our country. So let’s all pitch in and make eastern North Carolina the beautiful place we know it is,” Murphy said.

Dee Smith, Carteret Big Sweep coordinator, told Coastal Review Online that she feels it is very important to all work together as a community to tackle marine debris and litter and is planning to coordinate with the congressman’s team for the May 8 cleanup.

Big Sweep is a year-round, collaborative program between North Carolina State’s Cooperative Extension and Carteret County government.

Smith regularly organizes cleanups in Carteret County, with one set for 9 a.m. March 13 on Highway 58.  Volunteers are to meet at the Peletier Town Hall to collect the necessary supplies and safety equipment for a safe and effective experience.

“Public clean-ups are a way to raise awareness about the roadside litter issue” said Smith. “Volunteers have an opportunity to make a difference and improve the overall cleanliness of the county.”

Carteret Big Sweep is also seeking businesses, nonprofit organizations and volunteer groups to clean sections of major highways in Carteret County such as Highway 24 and Highway 70, as well as secondary roads on an as needed basis. To cleanup a specific area, Carteret Big Sweep will provide all necessary supplies and equipment. Carteret Big Sweep partners with the Carteret County Sheriff’s office to ensure the safety of all volunteers.

To volunteer with Carteret Big Sweep or to schedule a volunteer cleanup for your business or organization, contact Smith at 252-222-6365 or dee_edwards-smith@ncsu.edu. Follow Big Sweep on Facebook and Instagram @CarteretBigSweep for information about future cleanups.

Last month, a grassroots group of volunteers walked around Sneads Ferry and collected 34 bags of trash by hand. After a couple of hours, their haul weighed in at a whopping 680 pounds.

The group calls itself Debris Free Sneads Ferry, and it was organized and led by Hannah Faith Kushner. Kushner, of Sneads Ferry, said she considers litter in the area to be a tremendous problem.

Debris Free Sneads Ferry is just one of a handful of emerging efforts to clean up the area around Stump Sound. The sound touches a handful of municipalities and unincorporated areas, which poses challenges to managing issues like litter. Who is in charge of addressing this problem?

That’s the type of question that Lisa Rider found herself asking when she came up with the idea for Stewards of Stump Sound, a group that plans to address cleanup strategies and litter management in the surrounding area. Rider is the executive director of Coastal Carolina Riverwatch. She and others workshopped the idea during a past annual North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium. The 2021 event was held online last week.

“We collaboratively wanted to put together a program in an underserved or unincorporated area of eastern North Carolina,” said Rider.

Marine debris along roadsides and waterways poses a problem for local ecosystems, in addition to being unsightly for residents. The North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 2020 Marine Debris Action Plan listed the Stewards of Stump Sound pilot program as a key way to address marine debris in unincorporated areas, where there is no municipal government to take charge of the problem.

One of the pilot program’s first acts was to initiate a litter survey of the area, which returned results in December 2019. The litter survey helped Rider highlight problem areas where debris rates were exceptionally high.

“When the study came out, it was really apparent to us which areas we really needed to target with litter removal programs,” said Rider.

But just as momentum for the project was building, the onset of the pandemic caused a lingering delay.

“So, we have to start rebuilding that momentum,” said Rider. “And that’s kind of where we’re at today.”

As years go on, it can be difficult to maintain a consistent group of stakeholders. But Rider said she is optimistic, simply because she knows other people committed to the cause are out there and are starting to organize their own initiatives.

“Knowing that that’s happening in the community is a good sign that we can get this thing back together and get it rolling down the hill again,” she said.

Jan Farmer is a coastal ambassador for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which works with partners to restore Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve, 52 acres of forest habitat, salt marsh, tidal creek and more than 3,000 feet of shoreline along Stump Sound. Farmer is also working on the project, and she said that Stewards of Stump Sound will complement other grassroots efforts, not replace them. When she heard about Debris Free Sneads Ferry, she reached out to Kushner and asked how she could help.

“What we’re trying to avoid is creating just another program that is redundant to other things that are being done,” said Farmer.

As Stewards of Stump Sound evolves and takes shape, Farmer said she is excited about grassroots litter efforts like Debris Free Sneads Ferry because it does more than just clean up the litter, it creates an involved community all concerned about the same issue.

“It seems to have kind of ignited something in the Sneads Ferry area right now,” said Farmer, “to encourage people to participate, to be aware of the problem.”

That is something that Farmer has been wanting for a long time — people paying attention to the area and working together to keep it clean.

“It takes time to build allies,” said Farmer. “And just this past year, really, it seems like it’s starting to really get attention. And I’m super excited about that.”

Still in its early phases, Stewards of Stump Sound is continually deciding what it’s going to be. But the primary goal has remained unchanged from the start: to clean up the area around Stump Sound. Rider encourages anyone who wants to know more about the group’s progress to contact Rebecca Drohan, program coordinator at Coastal Carolina River Watch, at 919-961-3299 or RebeccaD@crystalcoastwaterkeeper.org.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation’s northeast office is looking for extra hands from 9-11:30 a.m. Feb. 6 to help with debris cleanups of estuarine shoreline and roadsides.

There will be cleanups in Wanchese, Nags Head and Rodanthe. Trash bags, gloves and other cleanup materials will be provided.

Participants will be required to wear a mask or face covering while they work in their small groups and maintain safe distances during the cleanup.

Bring water, a snack and dress appropriately for the weather. Sturdy shoes for walking in wet areas are also recommended, especially boots.  Feb. 7 is the rain date.

The federation is working to reduce the amount of marine debris in coastal shorelines and waterways and has worked with partners to develop a coastwide Action Plan. This year, the federation will be removing large scale marine debris in the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound with a grant award from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program. The federation will coordinate the project in partnership with Dare County and the state Division of Coastal Management.

Registration online for the following Feb. 6 cleanups:

• Wanchese cleanup 
• Nags Head Cleanup
• Rodanthe/Waves/Salvo cleanup

The eighth annual North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium Feb. 10-12 is going virtual and global.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch is hosting the online symposium that offers a chance to collaborate, network and learn about marine debris research, policy, advocacy and more.

During the symposium, there will be a Global Circular Based Solutions Panel with Bonnie Monteleone of Plastic Ocean Project, Nina Butler with More Recycling and Scott Farling of Ocean Plastics Recovery Project, as well as discuss a bag ban versus a fee, and time to pitch ideas and unfunded projects that will be shared with potential funders and collaborators.

The full agenda is available online as well as a place to register and pay the $35 fee for nonmembers or $25 for members to attend.

Every attendee this year to the symposium will receive a complimentary one year membership to Coastal Carolina Riverwatch.

Contact Coastal Carolina Riverwatch executive director and symposium coordinator Lisa Rider at lisar@coastalcarolinariverwatch.org with questions.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch is asking the public to spend their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, designated a National Day of Service, cleaning up their community.

Riverwatch board and staff will be having solo cleanup to collect litter and marine debris throughout this day and encourage the public to have their own socially distanced cleanup effort.

While organizers encourage solo cleanups at any locations, the following are areas known to always need litter cleanups:

• Gallants Channel Bridge, 172 Old Beaufort Road, Beaufort.
• The Circle, 201 W. Atlantic Blvd., Atlantic Beach.
• Pollocks Point, N.C. 172, Sneads Ferry.
• Nelva Albury Park, 213 Broadway St., Surf City.
• Marina Cafe Boat Launch, 110 S. Marine Blvd. Jacksonville.

Organizers ask that photos and weight estimates be emailed to the program coordinator at RebeccaD@coastalcarolinariverwatch.org to record the combined impact and that those participating use the Marine Debris Tracker app to report finds to experts working on pollution problems. The app is free to download on any smart phone.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, home to both Crystal Coast Waterkeeper and White Oak New-Riverkeeper Alliance programs, serve a total area of 320 miles of rivers and streams, 140,104 acres of estuaries, and 129 miles of coastline.

This week, 31 commercial watermen and women are set to begin collecting lost crab pots and fishing gear along the northern and central coast as part of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has been leading since 2014 the recovery project to remove lost crab pots from the state’s internal waters. Lost gear can get hung up or drift into channels, creating hazards to boaters and wildlife.

With the help of various partners, commercial fishermen and women have been hired to collect the pots during the no-potting period, the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots.

“We’ve all been hit pretty hard this year. After a tough year of crabbing I am looking forward to this opportunity. With this project not getting funded in 2020, I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of cleaning up to do,” JT Outland, project participant from Manns Harbor, said in a statement. “Being on the water nearly every day as a full-time commercial fisherman, it’s important to remove the lost pots and keep our waters clean and safe.”

Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator for the federation and project leader, said she’s excited to clean up the waterways and create opportunities for work during this time of the year.

“This project wouldn’t be possible without the support of community organizations and our commercial watermen and women, who have consistently expressed that helping with this project and protecting waterways is important to them,” she said.

In January 2019, 3,112 pots were removed from select areas within all three Marine Patrol Districts. The 2021 project will take place in select areas within Marine Patrol District 1, which covers the northeast region, and District 2, which covers the central region of the coast.

Once the pots are collected, they will be recycled if possible. The crab pots recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region during the project will be available for the rightful property owners to reclaim after the cleanup is complete.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Resource Fund Committee and the Funding Committee for the North Carolina Commercial Resource Fund under the Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program are funding the project intended to improve habitat, water quality and support coastal economies.

The project is part of the federation’s effort to ensure an North Carolina coast that is free of marine debris. Establishing an annual paid program for marine debris removal, including crab pots, is a key objective of the North Carolina Marine Debris Strategic Plan. For more information on the progress of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project over past years, visit nccoast.org/crabpotproject.

More than 70 tons of marine debris have been collected since summer from public shorelines and marshes along the central and southeast coast of the state as part of a large-scale marine debris and abandoned and derelict vessels removal project.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management and North Carolina Coastal Federation are working together on the project to remove large piles of pressure treated wood, plastic and polystyrene floats, and other litter from docks and waterfront structures damaged during Hurricane Florence.

The debris may contain harmful chemicals that can affect estuarine habitats and animals, including fish and shellfish. Large deposits of debris can pose hazards to navigation, fishers and marsh vegetation.

Nearly 74 tons of debris — the weight of about six school buses — have been collected since July from the division’s Rachel Carson, Permuda Island and Masonboro Island reserves and Hammocks Beach State Park, according to the federation. Most of the debris being collected along the coast are large pieces of debris like lumber and floats from broken up docks and piers with household debris and consumer trash only making up about 15 to 20% of the total.

So far, fisherman Joe Huie and his crew from Sneads Ferry have removed more than 35 tons of debris on Masonboro Island Reserve.

“I don’t think people could even perceive how much debris is really out there” said Huie.

“I believe that if we started debris removal around New River in Onslow County and moved our way down south into Brunswick County, by the time we finished in Brunswick and went back home over the course of a year or less, the places we had originally cleaned would be covered with debris again, and that’s without a hurricane like Florence contributing large amounts,” he explained.

The division’s Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve program is one of the many public lands that will benefit from the cleanup effort. The reserve is a network of 10 protected sites in the state established for long-term research, education and stewardship and protects more than 44,000 acres of estuarine land and water.

“This project, in concert with others being conducted simultaneously, will culminate in the largest organized public lands debris removal effort in North Carolina’s coastal history,” said Paula Gillikin, central sites manager of the Coastal Reserve Program.

The division and the federation received nearly $2 million earlier this year from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program to remove debris caused during Hurricane Florence and the project is just one effort to address marine debris on the state’s coast.

In July, Gov. Roy Cooper approved final legislation authorizing the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to remove storm-related vessels considered abandoned or derelict. This legislation dedicated $1 million in state appropriations for the commission to remove the vessels left by hurricanes Florence and Matthew.

The division, the commission and the federation have chosen which abandoned vessels will be removed and specialized contractors are expected to begin that work in November.

The federation is receiving $121,090 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program and $645,557 from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s emergency response marine debris program to remove dozens more vessels abandoned in the northeast coastal region.

The first large-scale cleanup project was launched in 2019 using state and NOAA funding. The project resulted in more than 315 tons of debris and several vessels removed from coastal waters.

While hired crews work to remove large scale debris, the federation and the Division of Coastal Management are encouraging the public to help keep the coast clean.

Visitors of coastal reserves and other public lands that collect trash when it’s safe to do so and disposing of it properly can share their finds by tagging “@debrisfreenc” on social media.

“I thank citizens in advance for helping collect marine debris at the Reserves and other public lands,” said Rebecca Ellin, Coastal Reserve program manager. “Through collaborative efforts such as these, we can reduce marine debris in coastal NC to protect habitats and enhance the safety and enjoyment of our coastal environment.”

Ted Wilgis, regional project lead for the federation, urged residents to help reduce property damage and the amount of debris entering coastal waters by following tips such as ensuring trash and recycling cans are empty and secure prior to storms. More ways to prepare for storms can be found at the NOAA program’s “Storm Preparedness and Marine Debris” tip sheet.

There are still hundreds of damaged waterfront structures along the coast that can contribute to the debris problem.

“We encourage owners of these damaged structures to try to secure them as best as possible until they can be removed or repaired,” he said.

Artwork by eighth grader Sophie W. of Michigan, winner of the 2021 annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.This year’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program Art Contest is officially open for students in kindergarten through eighth grade in all U.S. states and territories.

Students can submit their artwork now through Dec. 15 that answers the following questions:

• How does marine debris impact the ocean and Great Lakes?
• What are you doing to help prevent marine debris?

Entries will only be accepted by electronically and by mail. If submitting electronically, send the artwork as a JPEG, PNG, or TIFF file.

The winning artwork will be featured in the NOAA 2022 Marine Debris Calendar.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program holds the annual art contest to reach students and help raise awareness about marine debris. NOAA believes that engaging youth is an important part of addressing the problem of marine debris.

The resulting calendar, featuring the winning artwork, provides a daily reminder of how important it is to be responsible stewards of the ocean. Students are highly encouraged to check out resources on this website for information about marine debris.

Artwork and description requirements

1. One entry per student
2. The entries must be on a single sheet of 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper, landscape.
3. Use white, nonglossy paper. Do not laminate.
4. Any art medium may be used such as colored pencils, crayons, paint but computer graphics will not be accepted. Artwork must be hand-drawn by the student.
5. Artwork must be flat with no glued pieces or glitter and able to be scanned.
6. Avoid labeling debris items with any brand names in the artwork.
7. A description of no more than 75 words must accompany the artwork. Space is provided on the entry form.
8. Label each mail entry on the back in pencil — marker bleeds through the artwork — with student’s name, age and grade, along with the teacher’s name, school name, address and telephone number.
9. If submitting your entry electronically, accepted file types are: JPEG, PNG, or TIFF. Make sure the files are high resolution (scanning is encouraged), not crooked, and is easy to see and/or read.

For more contest and submission guidelines, visit the website and download the entry form.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation now has funding to remove large-scale marine debris, particularly the more than 20 abandoned and derelict vessels harming important habitat such as oyster reef, submerged aquatic vegetation, shallow subtidal and coastal wetlands in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary

The federation was awarded a $121,090 grant from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program and will coordinate the project with Dare County and the N.C. Division of Coastal Management. Division of Coastal Management staff identified the many abandoned and derelict vessels and other large-scale marine debris negatively impacting different habitats within Currituck Banks and Kitty Hawk Woods component of the N.C. Coastal Reserve.

The project is expected to begin this fall and will continue over the next 12-24 months. The federation will solicit a request for proposals from marine contractors to perform the debris removal and announce opportunities to participate in volunteer-based community cleanups.

“The Division is looking forward to working with the Coastal Federation and project partners to remove vessels and debris to improve habitat quality at Reserve sites,” said Rebecca Ellin, Coastal Reserve Program Manager for the N.C. Division of Coastal Management. “Through collaborative efforts such as these, we can reduce marine debris in coastal N.C. to protect habitats and enhance the safety and enjoyment of our coastal environment.”

Additional abandoned and derelict vessels have been identified throughout Dare County and some pose a threat to safe navigation. The removal of medium- and large-scale marine debris is also anticipated to restore sections of submerged aquatic vegetation that provides essential fish habitat.

“Dare County is excited to work with the Coastal Federation on this project. With the number of storms that have affected Dare County the amount of abandoned vessels that harass our waters has increased exponentially. We are thankful to have an organization like the Coastal Federation consistently working to ensure the waters of the county are clean and safe for everyone,” Brent Johnson, Dare County Project Manager, said.

The grant-funded project provides the opportunity to develop a replicable case study on how to clean up abandoned and derelict vessels and other medium- and large-scale marine debris by combining local, state and federal resources and make it available to a broad range of stakeholders.

The North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan, which provides a framework for reducing the amount and impact of marine debris on the coast for the next five years.

To learn about the progress of this work and the federation’s efforts to create a coast that is free of marine debris, visit: nccoast.org/marinedebris. Contact Michael Flynn with any questions at michaelf@nccoast.org or 252-473-1607.