UPDATED: Surfrider oversees removal of debris supersacs off Flores Island

Marcie Callewaert

Special to the Westerly

On September 27, 2017 over 13 volunteers and 6 companies, came together to facilitate the removal of the final supersacs and oversized marine debris from the Surfrider clean up of Flores Island.

Fourteen sites needed to be cleared before the winter storms pulled the garbage back into the ocean.

Atleo Air provided the helicopter to access more remote beaches and lift the loads to a nearby barge, provided by G&N Towing. Two boats, skippered by Lennie John and Marcel Theriault, moved volunteers between beaches where they hitched loads to the helicopter.

Michelle Hall, the Surfrider Pacific Rim Chair, is “very grateful to the ACRD, and local government officials, and local MP Gord Johns, for coming to the aid of Surfrider in the very last minutes of urgency. The amazing efforts of our volunteers, skippers and pilot made todays operation absolutely flawless.”

Hall noted that “Some of the sacs on Dagger Point had been affected by the tides and needed to be rigged again, showing the urgency of removing the debris from the coast before it was dragged back out to sea again.”

Despite the team’s jubilation at completing Flores Island, there are still several other sites in the surrounding region that need to be finished, including “Vets, Mussell Beach, Wind N Sea, and Wild Pacific Trail, and Surfrider will continue to work with Parks Canada to ensure everything is removed.”

“Cleaning the beach is the easy part! Permits, coordination, funding, partnerships, safety, helicopter operations and getting debris from the barge to the marine intake centre in Vancouver for recycling is the challenging part.”

The marine debris will be transported to Vancouver where it will be sorted by the Ocean Legacy Foundation. The plastics collected will be used by Lush Cosmetics to create recycled product containers. Other debris will be sorted accordingly and recycled if possible.

“We all have a responsibility to make sustainable choices for the lifestyles we choose to lead. Look at how you can reduce plastic consumption, support ocean friendly businesses and above all, protect what you love,” Hall says.