Clear the Coast 2023 Adventures

Our intrepid volunteers tackled some new areas of Cape Scott Provincial Park on Vancouver Island in June, removing over 2 tonnes of plastic debris in two and a half action-packed days! 

In mid-June, we shared a helicopter with the Park Operator, using it to fly a crew of 9 into Guise Bay. Quickly establishing base camp there, we set out to clean this lovely, sandy beach just southeast of the Cape Scott Lightstation. With its turquoise waters and soft white sand, Guise Bay could easily be mistaken for a tropical paradise. 

Under the influence of the southeast gale that blew up that night, it was anything but tropical! Some of the crew passed a very wet night; but the wind changed to the northwest as predicted and dried us all out the next morning. 

We didn’t have to go far before we began spotting debris from the Zim Kingston containership spill—the items now so familiar and stubbornly persistent in these waters. Where last year we were recovering intact coolers, refrigerators and vacuum cleaner parts, this year we recovered their damaged remains. By next year, much of what remains will be plastic fragment that will be eaten by marine mammals and seabirds.