April is Coastal Awareness month, and next Saturday Bimini is organizing an island-wide Beach Clean Up. A crew from Bimini Sands is helping organize the effort on South Bimini, while groups from various churches, schools, local businesses and others tackle the beaches on North Bimini. While there have been other clean-up efforts organized around Bimini in the past, this looks to be the biggest one yet!
Do you ever wonder what happens to that soda can that blows off your boat? Have you ever wondered what happens to your fishing line when its left tangled in the bottom? Or have you ever considered where the helium ballons let go at birthday parties end up?
Not surprisingly, they don't just disappear.
Soda cans can take up to 200 years to break down, and fishing line lasts much longer at upwards of 600 years. If no one picks it up, it stays there to pollute the ocean and destroy sea life for decades and decades. And those balloons let go into the sky?... Most of them land in the ocean where they often kill birds and turtles who mistakenly eat them, or they wash up on beaches miles away from where they were released.
The theme of this years Coastal Awareness Month is "I Care...Do You?" It's a question we should all ask ourselves not just this month, but all year. If we want the oceans to remain healthy, and the beaches to remain clean, we have to put some work into it. Bimini Sands is joining the effort next Saturday, and if you're around the island, feel free to join us for this important campaign.
