CAVENDISH, P.E.I.
It took four people to cut and haul out a large piece of fish netting embedded in the sand of the beach at Cavendish Campground this weekend.
Fish netting was one of the scarier finds when Parks Canada employees and six UPEI students combed the beach for garbage on Saturday as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
It is easy for birds and small animals like foxes to get trapped and tangled in fish netting, said Parks Canada resource management officer Kerry-Lynn Atkinson.
“We don’t want to add any other human factors to the issues that they’re already dealing with,” said Atkinson. “This is scary to see on the beach and it’s also exciting to get it off.”
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a countrywide cleanup of the shorelines across the country.
This year there were 1,658 cleanups with 55,989 kg of litter collected over 2,541 km of Canadian shoreline, according to the Shorelinecleanup.ca website.
Lobster traps, wooden planks, nails, buoys, and plastic bags are just some of the examples of what was found in Cavendish.
The garbage left by beachgoers was something pre-veterinary student Sarah Locke expected to find in the cleanup.
What she didn’t expect was the amount of trash washed ashore by the ocean.
“I think what’s really notable about it is we’re not just looking at the beachgoers stuff that they’ve left behind. It’s a lot of stuff like fishing nets and stuff right out of the ocean,” said Sarah.
The six UPEI students who helped clean came from the newly founded Parks Canada campus club network at UPEI. There are 40 campus clubs across Canada. The clubs are a volunteer network of youth who go out into nature.
The UPEI club has 109 members.
Club president Erika Miller said the club was more than happy to take on the initiative.
“There are lots of animals on the beaches so we want to make sure they have a safe place to live,” she said.
Atkinson surveys the campground’s beach regularly and while she picks up what litter she can, she said it can often be overwhelming.
“It is disappointing and can become disheartening quickly but when you do an initiative with young students who are motivated and inspired about the environment it really gives you hope,” she said.