Faced with poor diving conditions offshore, Coast Watch Alliance volunteers Ashley Ridout, Deanna Richburg, Rich King, and Brian Asher turned their focus closer to home and held an impromptu underwater cleanup at Southwind Marina in Pensacola, Florida. Over the course of five hours, more than 250lbs of refuse was removed from the marina including three actively fishing ghost traps, eight partial ghost traps, two minnow buckets, twenty pounds of plastic, a ladder, an anchor, and a seventy pound barbell. "Making a positive impact doesn't have to be expensive or take all day", said Executive Director Ashley Ridout. "Small things like this go a long way toward making our coastal communities a better place to live."
To learn how you can participate in our next marine debris removal event, stay tuned to the "Events" section of our website and follow Coast Watch Alliance on Facebook.