Want to be a beachcomber?
One city agency, whose 90 volunteers surveyed beaches in 50 locations last year, is seeking individuals who want to help their beaches become cleaner.
The New York City Department of Environment Protection (DEP) Floatable Control Program conducts a study with the help of volunteers annually, to assess the amount of “man-made” waterborne waste that clutters beaches in hopes that the city will one day have trash-free beaches.
The program allows local residents to take a trip to an assigned beach and document their observations on the types of debris located within a 200-foot section of a beach. The observations are based on data sheets with guidelines to help the volunteers assess the conditions of the waters from the surf to the high tide watermark, weather, rain or temperature data and floatables including styrofoam, cloth, wood, glass, rubber, metal and medical wastes.
“I stopped seeing it as garbage, but instead as different categories of debris, like plastic, rubber, wood, paper, etc. I tally up how much I see each time I do a survey, and take pictures of the beach and any strange objects,” said Frieda Cristofides, a volunteer surveying Little Neck Bay Beach near Utopia Parkway.
The “garbage,” as Cristofides recalled, negatively impacts aquatic species and humans alike. However, as the first alert system in the city, one of the program’s goals is to prevent beach closures and collect enough data to compare improvements each year.
“While it’s a shame that the beach is not fit for human occupation, it is a pleasure to see the occasional kayaker using it as a launch for their vessel. It gives me hope that maybe, within my lifetime, this area could revert to a safe clean beach line,” Cristofides said.
The surveys will be conducted through September.
To participate in the volunteer program and for information about a beach near you, contact Robert Gans at Ozone Layer LLC at 212-889-4216 or email at ozonelayerllc@rcn.com.
