File:Coast watch (1979) (20472947319).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_2 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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By Sarah Friday One person. One Styrofoam cup. One ocean. Nobody will ever know. Want to bet? The U.S. Coast Guard estimates recrea- tional boaters generate about 34,000 metric tons of garbage per day. Add to that milhons of tons of daily debris from beachgoers, fishermen and offshore vessels. The rubbish piles up, snagging, tangling and killing wildlife. But piece by piece it fuels the fire of worldwide efforts to clean up the problem of marine debris. The efforts range from posters printed to educate the public to massive beach clean- ups in Texas. With all of them, the goal is the same—to save marine mammals. The campaign has been smoldering for about 10 years. Successes exist, but environ- mentalists agree only the first rounds of their fight have been completed. The thrust of their game plan now is education. "People don't realize what they're doing when they throw things overboard," says environmentalist Jim Murphy of Southern Shores. They don't correlate plastic bags with turtle food or cigarette filters with hungry birds. Education can change this. "I think that once people realize the conse- quences of their actions, if nothing else, their consciences won't let them do it," says Ginny Goblirsch of the Oregon Sea Grant Extension Service. "It's a matter of changing their habits." I

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