If you have spent time in Átl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound, you know that winter storms wreak havoc on coastal infrastructure and that strong winds and currents disperse debris throughout the Sound. In an effort to keep Átl’ka7tsem clean, the MSI partnered with the incredible team at the Ocean Legacy Foundation to remove marine debris from the Sound.
This year, MSI’s Program Coordinator, Gwyn Taylor, joined the Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF) crew on the tugboat Undaunted from September 9th to 13th to remove a staggering amount of marine debris from Átl’ka7tsem. The crew camped remotely at Thornbrough Point, fully immersed in the beauty of the Sound. This work was made possible thanks to funding from the Province of BC via the Clean Coast Clean Waters Initiative.
From September 9th to 13th, Gwyn (above) and the Ocean legacy crew removed marine debris from four sites: Ch’kw’elhp / Gibsons, Pasley Island, Chá7elkwnech / Gambier, and south of K‘ik‘elxn / Port Mellon (right).
Left: The OLF crew collecting debris from Pasley Island. Middle: The Undaunted on route to clean-up sites. Right: Dinghys and supersacks full of marine debris stacked on the barge.
Everywhere the crew went they were met with warm smiles and comments of appreciation and relief from community members. Pasley Island was no exception, here the community had been scouring their shores for tires, buoys, styrofoam, loose fishing gear, and abandoned vessels and storing it to be properly removed and sorted. The crew arrived and quickly got to work forming teams separating, loading, and dismantling the debris. We counted 6 dingys extracted from the blackberry bushes on shore! See below for an aerial comparison of before and after.
Above: Before and after photos of the Pasley Island marine debris clean up, taken using a small drone.
Above: The crew removing massive foam blocks and many tires from near Camp Artaban, Gambier Island. The crane was used to stack large pieces like jenga blocks on top of the barge.
The debris is all taken to OLF’s facilitiy in Steveston, where it is weighed, sorted, and then either reused, recycled, or properly disposed of. We are incredibly grateful to partner with the Ocean Legacy Foundation and the communities of Atl’ka7tsem to clean and protect these waters.
Stay tuned for an update about how many tons of marine debris was removed from the Sound, and what the dominant pollutants were.
Help us continue to track and remove marine debris from Atl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound by using our Marine Debris Reporting tool! These reports help inform future debris removals like this one. Nearly all the sites from this cleanup were areas where we had received reports in the past.
Above: The cleanup crew after loading many supersacks collected at Gibsons.
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