Cliffwood Beach Sweep - Spring 2012

We went down to Cliffwood Beach this morning to participate in Clean Ocean Action's Spring Beach Sweep in honor of Earth Day. Hat tip to The Patch for letting us know about the event. There were lots of folks down there walking around with collection bags and clipboards, collecting debris and logging what they find. We noticed Aberdeen Councilman Greg Cannon and family. There were also a lot of fishermen at the surf line trying to catch stripers, poles in the ground. The lot was nearly full, because there were so many people in the fishermen's parking lot today. 

We always enjoy the beach cleanup and try to participate each time it is held. Thanks to those who organize these events. I believe the events make a difference, not only in the appearance of the beach but in improved  understanding of what is washing up onto the Raritan Bay shoreline.

We collected a bag of debris -- mostly shopping bags that had washed up on the shore, plus beverage cans and bottles -- and we found three big tires that had floated our way and found a home on our beach.

We took turns rolling one big truck tire up the beach. What a struggle! 

We found an exit to the road and rolled the tire down to the collection area, where we loaded it onto the Monmouth County refuse truck with some help from a county employee.

I took a piece of driftwood and dug this monster tire out of the surf. It seemed like a simple matter to roll it back to the collection station, but it turned out to be a major task.

We found two more tires down by the seawall. We brought them back to the collection area in our car.

There was a very organized process for volunteers to sign up and get bags, work gloves, and data sheets and pencils.