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During the 2007/2008 season we collected marine plastics debris for three months to
have our 1000 lb. sample, but had to send an equal amount to the landfill without sorting due to the immense volume.
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1041 lost soles were collected out of our nesting area for the Lance Ferris Challenge.
We could all stand to do some sole searching. I stated that I could probably find 1000 shoes in our nesting area, I hate it
when I'm right. Lance Ferris was a leader in marine plastics research on the front lines of conservation, we will miss him.
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Item List from STF Lance Ferris Challange Collected November 2007 - March 2008 Item Number of items
Bottles Beverage 2596 Medical 172 Toiletry 396 Oil Industry 96 Cooking Oil 23 Bleach 22 Glass 35 Beer Cans 374 6pack rings 7 Bottle Caps 1295 Total bottles : 3714
Shoes (lost souls) 1039 Styra- foam small 1030 Styra- foam Large 13 Straws 244
Plastic
Chunks small 4794 Plastic Chunks large 233 Total chunks: 5027
Mono-filiment balls 235 Nylon 41
Tooth
paste 6 Tooth brush 30 Comb 20 Razor 16 Inhalers 2 Hypo-dermics 21
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Bags
361 Tin Cans 214
Lighters 38 Forks 27 Spoons 29 Knives
2 Bike Tires
2 Bike Seats 2 Gloves 2
Paint Brushes 10 Pozuelo
Hat 1 Metal oil Filter 1 Foam oil Filter 1 WD-40
1 Sunglasses 2 Flashlight 8
Pushbroom 11 Baby Bottles 2 Daipers 4 Underwear
3 Light Bulbs 3
Camera 1 Toys 44
Machete 2 Sponge 1 Sieve 2 Toilet Seat 1 Surfboard 1 Balloon 1 Total Items Collected 13,554
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The top of my list for items I hate on the beach. Not that I am fond of any marine
plastic debris but these little items have a big impact if you find one accidentally when digging to exhume eggs.
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Sorting was done at daylight, after
our marine turtle protection patrols were done and all volunteer time. It took us 11 days of sorting to itemize our sample,
it is around 90 in the shade by 9am. The Boyz were not to happy about it but Lance gave us the added inspriation we needed
to accomplish the task.
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The volume of plastics entering our environment is overwhelming at this point, many forms of wildlife will be
affected if nothing is done to clean up this mess.
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The marine environment is becoming a plastics disaster!
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