'We want to be good stewards'

South Sound beach cleanup by shellfish growers, tribe nets 35 cubic yards of debris on shoreline

By John Dodge | The Olympian • Published October 09, 2008

• Comments (0)

ARCADIA POINT — South Sound beaches are a lot cleaner thanks to the cleanup done Wednesday by local commercial shellfish growers.

Fifteen boats and 77 people employed by 10 companies and the Squaxin Island tribe canvassed about 100 miles of shoreline, then headed for Arcadia Point in Mason County to unload the roughly 35 cubic yards of debris collected.

This marked the eighth such event hosted by the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association in the past four years. They conduct the cleanup in the fall and again in the spring after winter storms.

The project began as a way to make sure debris from commercial shellfish farms doesn't escape into the environment, said Linda Lentz of Chelsea Farms in Eld Inlet.

"Plus, we want to be good stewards here in South Sound," she said.

Surveys of the litter show about 16 percent comes from clam, oyster, mussel and geoduck farming operations, Lentz said.

But most of it is not shellfish-farm related and includes a lot of Styrofoam and tires that break loose from docks and floats in South Sound.

The first three boats to finish their beach sweeps Wednesday came from Squaxin Island and included members and employees of the tribe.

"I'd rather be fishing, but we always try to help each other out," said Joe Peters, a tribal fisheries biologist.

About 4.5 cubic yards of debris pulled off the beaches belonged to the shellfish farms. About half of that was separated out for reuse, including clam netting and oyster grow bags.

The haul included 43 tires. Some of the stranger items in recent years include messages in bottles, a recliner chair and a half-full whiskey bottle.

All together, the beach cleanups have removed about 480 cubic yards of litter from the beaches, enough to fill nearly 50 dump trucks.

"We found a lot less trash than we did last spring," Lentz said. "I think we're making a dent in it."