This summer we are distributing thousands of #ProtectOurWildlife stickers in communities across #LISound through environmental groups and municipalities. Our first sticker in the series is the American Oystercatcher, which is easy to identify with its colorful bill. A strictly coastal bird, it lives in areas with extensive sand beaches, tidal mudflats, and salt marsh. If an oystercatcher finds the shell of a shellfish slightly open, it quickly jabs its bill into the opening to eat its prey. Break the #SingleUsePlastic habit and protect these birds. Place these stickers on your reusable bottles to help spread the message! #DontTrashLISound.
On July 29, New York State Department of Environment (NYSDEC) Environmental Conservation Police Officer Chris Amato responded to a call of an osprey caught in fishing line in a tree on West Meadow Beach in Stony Brook. A person on the bike path led ECO Amato to the bird, which turned out to actually be two ospreys entangled and hanging upside down from a tree branch about 20 feet off the ground. ECO Amato was able to get to the branch and cut it from the tree. With the help of ECO Kyle Bevis and a good Samaritan, the birds were then cut free from the fishing line and taken to an animal emergency hospital. The veterinarian there believed that the birds had been caught for several days, as one bird had gangrene in one foot and the other required a toe removed. Both are expected to survive with proper care. Fishermen and boaters should be aware that the garbage they leave behind can cause harm to wildlife. DEC recommends fishermen discard old fishing line in the trash so birds do not become easily entangled.
– news release from the Aug. 7 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Conservation Officer web page.
By Judy Benson
Aug. 8 (New Haven) – One hundred pounds of litter – everything from deflated Mylar balloons and monofilament fishing line to plastic bottles, Styrofoam cups, straws, cigarette butts and lots of bottle caps — filled the buckets and reusable bags of 35 volunteers Thursday at Lighthouse Point Park as they helped launch a campaign to keep plastic trash out of Long Island Sound.
“My husband and I grew up down here, so we just wanted to come and help out,” said Lisa Ratti, who came with her husband Salvatore and their daughters Kylie, 13, Courtney, 11, and Rosalie, 4, from their home in Newington to work with the other volunteers in picking up trash.
The two-hour cleanup on a bright, windy August day at the popular city beach and picnic area was the start of this year’s “Don’t Trash Long Island Sound – Break the Single-Use Plastic Habit” campaign sponsored by the Long Island Sound Study, Connecticut Sea Grant and Mystic Aquarium. Now in its third year, the campaign this year expanded with four groups joining in the kick-off event – The Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound; Audubon Connecticut; The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut chapter; and SoundWaters, which sponsored cleanups at the same time at two Stamford parks.
“When we arrived, the park and beach looked clean, but when we took a closer look we saw the tiny pieces of plastic, cigarette butts, fishing wire and other debris that can be so damaging to seabirds, fish and other animals,” said Robert Burg, communications coordinator for the Long Island Sound Study, a bi-state restoration effort sponsored by the EPA, Connecticut and New York. “It was great to see so many volunteers that did not take that trash for granted and helped us to protect the Sound’s wildlife.”
The cleanup coincided with an Interfaith Service Day in New Haven declared by Mayor Toni N. Harp. Dozens of teens were among volunteers working with seven community groups throughout the city on various projects.
MaryEllen Mateleska, director of education and conservation at the aquarium, said keeping the Sound clean requires everyone’s attention.
“Protecting valuable resources like Long Island Sound is a community effort, and yesterday 35 volunteers, ranging from ages 4 to 70, became part of this effort by collecting 100 pounds of trash in two hours from the New Haven coastline,” she said Friday. “Not only was harmful trash removed from the Sound, but as this group scoured the beach with trash grabbers and bags in hand, they served as a model of what engaged citizens can look like to other park patrons.”
Among those there to witness the cleanup were about 60 elementary school-aged youth from the YWCA summer camp in New Britain. As they jumped and splashed in wind-tossed seas, Burg approached their teachers Taraea Ellis and Justin Del Rio to offer colorful “Protect Our Wildlife” stickers for each of the campers. The stickers, intended for reusable water bottles and travel mugs, show three Long Island Sound species – the American oystercatcher, harp seal and tautog (also called blackfish) with the message: “Don’t Trash Long Island Sound – Break the Single Use Plastic Habit.”
Along with the stickers, the campaign also includes seven weeks of social media posts leading into International Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 21. The posts are highlighting positive steps people are taking to embrace alternatives to throwaway plastics. The hashtags #DontTrashLISound, #LISound and #SingleUsePlastic are being used on the posts. The campaign generated 82,000 Facebook and Twitter impressions in 2017 and 135,000 in 2018, and a further increase is expected this year.
Volunteer Karri Beauton, who is also an animal rescue volunteer at the Mystic Aquarium, filled her bucket in about an hour of combing the sandy and grassy areas of the park. While finding trash wasn’t hard, she said, there was more to be found in the out-of-the way places than in the obvious ones.
“I think people are starting to be more conscientious of plastic trash and littering,” she said.
Another volunteer from the aquarium, Dale Wolbrink, ended up getting tangled in several feet of discarded monofilament line, with the fishhook and sinkers still attached. Wolbrink, the aquarium’s senior director of public relations, noted how the episode gave her a taste of what wildlife experience when they are entangled by fishing line and require rescue and rehabilitation by aquarium staff.
Judy Preston, Long Island Sound Study outreach program coordinator for Connecticut Sea Grant, said the event demonstrated how much plastic is in the environment and the importance of working to get rid of it.
“It was a great day to bring attention to how plastics – bottles, straws, bags, monofilament – all show up on our Long Island Sound beaches,” she said. “It’s not just an eyesore. Plastics can entangle birds, choke sea turtles when they think a floating bag is an edible jellyfish, and ultimately break down into micro-pieces where they are ingested by sea life, making a lousy substitute for food. ‘Don’t Trash Long Island Sound’ is great advice that benefits us all – especially our local wildlife.”
Judy Benson is the communications coordinator at Connecticut Sea Grant.
Avoiding single-use plastics is catching on all over the globe. In 2018, the UK’s Collins Dictionary picked “single-use” as its word of the year, noting that it is “a term that describes items whose unchecked proliferation are blamed for damaging the environment and affecting the food chain.” on the short list was also “plogging,” defined as “a recreational activity, originating in Sweden, that combines jogging with picking up litter.”
Tomorrow at 10 a.m. New Haven and days camps in Stamford are helping to launch this summer’s #DontTrashLISound campaign with beach cleanups at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven and Cove Island and Boccuzzi Parks in Stamford. Protect #LISound. Break the #SingleUsePlastic Habit. Photo credit of Lighthouse Point: Wikimedia Commons. Register here for the New Haven event: http://ow.ly/s86f50vd8yZ
New Haven (Aug. 6, 2019) – Lighthouse Point Park will be the site of a beach cleanup and information outreach event on Aug. 8 to launch this year’s “Don’t Trash Long Island Sound – Break the Single Use Plastic Habit” campaign to encourage people to embrace reusable items instead of throwaway plastics and to protect the Sound from pollution.
The campaign, sponsored in 2017 and 2018 by the Long Island Sound Study, Connecticut Sea Grant and the Mystic Aquarium, has been joined this year by four organizations that will help with beach cleanups – the Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Connecticut and SoundWaters. From 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 8 at Lighthouse Point, volunteers and staff of these organizations will collect trash and share information about the campaign and their programs. They will also hand out Long Island Sound wildlife stickers for reusable water bottles and travel mugs that encourage people to “Break the Single Use Plastic Habit” and “Don’t Trash #LISound.” Staff of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission also will join in the cleanup effort. Volunteers can register for the cleanup at: https://donttrashlisound-cleanup.eventbrite.com.
SoundWaters will lead volunteers in a cleanup of Cove Island and Boccuzzi parks in Stamford from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 8 as well. The rain date for both events is 10 a.m. to noon on Friday Aug. 9.
“Pollution from single-use plastics is more than an eyesore,” said Frogard Ryan, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut, adding that recent steps to discourage plastic bag use in the state are encouraging. “It is harmful to wildlife and habitats, and impairs water quality. We are proud to be part of the Don’t Trash Long Island Sound campaign and to raise awareness of these issues so we can protect the Sound’s harbors and bays for generations to come.”
Along with the beach cleanups and stickers, social media posts during the campaign with the hashtags #DontTrashLISound, #LISound and #SingleUsePlastic will showcase people taking positive actions to reduce plastic pollution. The campaign generated 82,000 Facebook and Twitter impressions in 2017 and 135,000 in 2018. Another increase is anticipated this year. The campaign will last seven weeks, leading into International Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 21.
“We were happy that our social media reach in last summer’s #DontTrashLISound campaign increased by a large amount from the previous summer,” said Robert Burg, communications coordinator for the Long Island Sound Study, a bi-state restoration effort sponsored by the EPA, Connecticut and New York. “But more importantly, the public’s awareness of the plastic problem in the Sound and in the ocean, thanks to campaigns like ours, has resulted in communities, local businesses, counties, and state governments taking action to reduce single-use plastics. It’s exciting to see, and we will be highlighting some of these actions in our posts this summer.”
MaryEllen Mateleska, director of education and conservation at Mystic Aquarium, said the campaign is an effective way to call attention to a problem everyone can help to solve.
“This campaign provides all Long Island Sound Study member organizations with the opportunity to work as a collective and engage our audiences in a conversation around reducing our single-use plastics while continuing to improve the health of the Sound,” she said. “Whether it is participation in the awareness-building social media campaign, joining a beach cleanup to remove marine debris or making personal behavior changes like skipping the straw, this campaign will demonstrate the positive impact we can have on our local ecosystems.”
Judy Preston, Long Island Sound outreach coordinator for Connecticut Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Study, urged people to be mindful of the many harmful effects all the throwaway plastics are having on wildlife and our environment, and to take actions to refuse single-use plastics and substitute with reusable items whenever possible.
“It’s so much more than not using a straw,” she said. “Plastics have become pervasive and the impacts to our coastal and marine wildlife are considerable. Sea turtles eat plastic bags thinking they’re jellyfish, osprey become tangled in monofilament fishing line, and microplastics are showing up in the stomachs of a lot of these animals. What we do makes a difference – you can decide if it’s for better or for worse. Please, don’t trash Long Island Sound!”
Stickers being given out as part of the campaign depict native Long Island Sound wildlife: an oystercatcher, harp seals and a tautog (also called blackfish), with the “Break the Single Use Plastic Habit – Don’t Trash #LISound” message.
More information: Judy Benson, communications coordinator, Connecticut Sea Grant (860) 405-9141 (office) (860) 287-6426 (cell); [email protected]
Less Plastic considers these 9 Tips for Living with Less Plastic so important that it has translated it into 23 languages. http://ow.ly/wwTs50v901Q Here’s more information from the organization about the power of individual action. http://ow.ly/Mb1k50v901R Protect #LISound. #DontTrashLISound!
Here’s the plastic waste problem in a nutshell. According to Plastic Oceans, humans produce over 300 million tons of plastic every year, 50% of which is for single-use purposes. More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year. These plastics are utilized by humans for just a few moments, but remain in the ground or the oceans for hundreds of years because plastics do not break down easily. Tomorrow we describe what you can do about it to help protect #LISound and Break the #SingleUsePlastic Habit. #DontTrashLISound.
LISS, environmental groups, and municipalities are asking #LISound residents to Break the #SingleUsePlastic Habit in a 7-week social media campaign. Posts and tweets will highlight the plastic problem, the progress that has been made thanks to the amazing work of our communities, and the work that still needs to be done. This summer, bring reusable bags or bottles to the beach. Help protect the fish, seabirds, mammals, and other wildlife that call the Sound home, and that rely on us to keep the Sound trash free. #DontTrashLISound.
Break the #SingleUsePlastic Habit and Dont Trash LISound! The Long Island Sound Study social media campaign to reducet marine plastic debris in the Sound runs through Sept. 20, the day before International Coastal Cleanup Day when thousands of people from around the globe volunteer at beach cleanups to protect our oceans. Follow the campaign on the Long Island Sound Study Facebook page #LISound or #DontTrashLISound. Learn more about the marine plastic volunteer problem, and how to volunteer for a cleanup in your area of Long Island Sound at www.DontTrashLISound.net.