Cleanup Efforts Continue Through July 13 At Chesapeake Bay

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The first Chesapeake Cleanup Week concludes Saturday, July 13, and so far it's been a great way to "take out the trash." The event, sponsored by the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland, is designed to support the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint that hopes to restore clean water to the bay by 2025.

Cleanup in these areas have discovered a surprising amount of plastic items carelessly discarded.

Maggie Hughes, assistant director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland, said recent cleanups in sites around the bay have uncovered an excessive amount of plastic straws and
bottles.

"The majority of the stuff we're finding is single-use plastics that people are literally using every day,” she said in a statement. “And you know, if they're just not disposed of properly, unfortunately, they're going to flow right into the waterway."

What's worse is that marine life can eat these items or become injured by them.

"Once it gets into their stomachs, then we're in trouble,” Hughes said. “The body's not meant to digest plastic. It's actually getting into the tissues of the animals as well, you know. We're fishing or eating those fish, and it's getting into our bodies."

Some people have turned the trash cleanup event into a competition and are sharing their results through a special app called iAngler Tournament, Hughes said. The app is normally used to photograph catch-and-release fish, but this week, people are documenting the trash they find along the bay.

On Saturday morning, CCA is hosting cleanup activities at three sites on the bay: Red Bridges in Greensboro, Truxtun Park in Annapolis and Solomons Public Boat Ramp on Solomons Island. The public is invited to show up and help out.