The members of the Bayside Anglers Group, Ltd. are celebrating their 15th annual volunteer Spring Cleanup of Little Neck Bay – by expanding it to cover the entire Bayside shoreline.
Every April, the association of local sport fishermen, with the cooperation of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the city Parks Foundation’s Partnership for Parks, recruits all the help it can for the cleanup.
“We spend the day cleaning a winter’s worth of floating debris from the reed covered wetlands at the back of Little Neck Bay,” said Event Director Peter Pabon.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, April 19 to begin at 10 a.m., but the anglers are asking for volunteers and sponsors to get in touch by Wednesday, April 1. “We intend to feed all participants and want to make sure we have enough food and drinks for everyone,” he said.
Volunteers will be working from the sandy stretch just north of the Alley wetlands, known locally as “Bass Beach,” all the way to the seawall at Utopia Parkway on Little Bay.
Those who participate are encouraged to bring their own basic tools (heavy gloves/work gloves, paper grabbers, etc.) and are also encouraged to wear boots or similar footwear with traction to help prevent slipping on rocks.
“We won’t be cleaning up the shore along Fort Totten,” Pabon explained, “just the areas the public uses.”
This year, there’ll be a little extra something; all participants are entered for a chance to win raffle prizes provided courtesy of the sponsors: two fishing boats, the “Angler” that recently moved to Port Washington and R&G Charters, as well as Flushing tackle shop The Fish Box (a.k.a. Pro Fishing) of 134-22 Northern Boulevard. Pabon is hoping for more companies to participate.
For more information visit www.BaysideAnglers.com, call 917-439-3022 or email president@baysideanglers.com.
