Students from Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center (OC) will participate in the 25th Annual International Coastal Cleanup on Sept. 25. Following last year’s success, the masters students will again be organizing the cleanup efforts at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park. Every year, the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental group based in Washington, D.C., leads more than half a million people in 100 countries to remove millions of pounds of trash and debris from beaches and waterways around the world. The volunteers also collect data on what they find. The OC students are a part of this effort.
Last year, NSU students, faculty, and staff joined the OC students and volunteers throughout the community to haul an impressive 951 pounds of trash and flotsam that littered John U. Lloyd Beach State Park. Nearly 400 of them gathered at the park in Dania Beach to participate in the clean up. The volunteers combed the park’s beaches with large plastic garbage bags. Wearing blue rubber gloves, they picked up everything from cigarette butts, to fishing nets, to plastic cups. These materials can endanger marine life and seabirds, who sometimes mistaken them for food. The results could be death.
To participate in this year’s clean up, please register at www.oceanconservancy.org . If you are part of a group that wishes to clean a certain area together, each individual must sign up on the Ocean Conservancy website, as well as emailing Stephanie Healey at shealey@nova.edu with the name of your group and the number of people who will be participating. You will be designated a specific area of the beach to clean. The clean up will run from 9 a.m. to noon.