"One recent August morning, the sun was just rising when I was up and out the door of my apartment, heading to the Oakland estuary. Not everyone would be excited to get up at "oh-god-thirty" to tromp out to the bay's shoreline and strap themselves to a wobbly paddleboard to hunt down piles of garbage. But as an environmental reporter and water nerd, I was pumped."
"The water was clear and calm, and the tide was low, so it didn't take long to find what we were looking for: Just underneath the waters' surface, the tops of battered boats were visible, decaying like sunken pirate ships. Trash was all around, drifting on the surface of the water, caught in hidden corners of the shoreline, or scattered across broad beaches that can only be reached by watercraft."
Early one August morning a small team launched from the Jack London Aquatic Center to survey marine debris in the Oakland estuary. A nonprofit group that has targeted estuary debris for nearly a decade led the outing. Under low tide, battered and partially submerged boats and large amounts of trash were visible just beneath the water’s surface, trapped in hidden shoreline corners and scattered across beaches reachable only by watercraft. Harbor seals, cranes, sea snails, boaters, rowers, and swimmers shared space with the debris. The scene revealed hazardous waste and extensive marine debris that often eludes sporadic cleanup and enforcement efforts.
Read at The Oaklandside
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