Volunteers to scour the coast

Jeff Benson

An array of colorful wildlife visits Upper Newport Bay every

mid-September, as nesting birds move out and migratory birds move in.

But something that can be seen year-round by bird watchers is the

mass of trash that migrates down storm drains and the main channels

and ends up on the bay’s islands and marshes.

Approximately 600 local volunteers, led by the Newport-Balboa

Rotary Club and including several hundred Boy Scouts and high school

students, will clean up trash in Upper Newport Bay Saturday to

coincide with International Coastal Cleanup Day.

Rotary Club member Rob Williams said that from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday, these volunteers will steer shallow-water skiffs, 20-foot

pontoon boats, four Boston Whalers and nearly 50 canoes to the

islands. They’ll clean up Styrofoam cups, cigarette butts, golf

balls, plastic bags and other waste that washes up on Shellmaker and

other islands.

“The primary type of trash and the biggest contaminant is

Styrofoam,” Williams said. “It’s the most dangerous, because it acts

like a sponge to absorb toxic chemicals. They don’t break down, and a

lot of fish and wildlife eat Styrofoam.”

Back Bay Science Center environmental scientist John Scholl said

some birds, like the avocet, skim the water looking for small bugs,

only to swallow something not quite as delectable.

“If a Styrofoam piece is small enough and there’s some algae

covering it, it looks like something very edible,” he said. “It could

stay in their stomachs and they’ll die of starvation.”

Williams equated Upper Newport Bay’s 750-acre ecological reserve

with a filter that prevents trash from making its way to the ocean.

Last year, 250 volunteers, who don’t typically get the opportunity to

enter the Back Bay, filled a 40-cubic-yard Dumpster with 10 tons of

trash in a few hours, he said.

“In a short four hours, we do collect a tremendous amount of

stuff,” Williams said. “Without the help of youth and the general

public, it couldn’t be done.”

Scholl said volunteer scouts from the Newport Beach Boy Scout Sea

Base will assist with parking, registration and dumpster duty.

“The Sea Base has been especially wonderful because they’ve been

more than willing to help out when we have these kinds of events,”

Scholl said.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the cleanup from 9 a.m. to 1

p.m. Saturday can meet at the Back Bay Science Center, 600 Shellmaker

Road, Newport Beach. The Newport Beach Fire Department will serve

free hamburgers to all participants, Williams said.