Update on Marine Debris Clean Up Project
Like other tourism enterprises, members of the Small Ship Tour Operators Association of BC (SSTOA) were hit hard by the COVID-19 shutdown. Even now that some sectors of the tourist trade have restarted, it’s almost impossible to maintain physical distance on a traditional ship. Plus, closings of Indigenous territories – where many of the boats travel during tours – have prevented operators from switching to serve a local clientele.
So when Mr. Smith floated the idea of a massive garbage removal project, the other tour operators enthusiastically agreed. “We have the skills, the boats and the time,” Mr. Smith says. “It was a chance to do the type of cleanup I’ve always dreamed about.”
The fleet of luxury ecotourism ships began two 21-day cleanup expeditions on August 18th. A hundred crew members spent eight to 10 hours a day hauling debris, from soccer balls to commercial fishing nets, off the craggy, wave-tossed beaches. The project is an industrial-level cleanup that will see some 130 tonnes of plastic debris removed from the shoreline.
The $3.5-million allotted to the project doesn’t replace the $15-million to $16-million the ships would typically bring in through tourism. But for the ship owners, money wasn’t the point. Describing themselves as fiercely proud of the place they work, Mr. Smith and the others are also fiercely protective of it. But increasing amounts of human-caused debris and abandoned fishing gear had grown into a massive problem with no easy solution.
Everyday items such as toothbrushes, razors, flip flops and water bottles, as well as footballs, volleyballs, soccer balls and golf balls, make up a portion of the garbage. But the familiar debris of modern life is dwarfed by fishing gear, which comprised 80% of the first 61 tonnes collected.
As physically taxing as it is, removing the gear is deeply satisfying, Mr. Smith said. And cleaning some of it up has brought his journey full circle: from the urgency of looking for entangled whales, to the grief of losing them, to the pride of making the region safer for the whales still there. This unique season may be his most fulfilling yet.
PC: Globe & Mail
_______________________________________________________________
