Keep Anna Maria Island Beaches Clean and Beautiful...
Help Protect the Sea Birds, Fish and Other Wildlife that Depend Upon Those Beaches.
Surfing the many different forums online that are Anna Maria Island or travel focused, we come across lots talking about the beaches of Anna Maria Island.
One of the most commonly asked question is... "Are the beaches clean on Anna Maria Island?"
Well, the quick answer is yes, the beaches on Anna Maria Island are clean, at least relatively so.
Ok, what I mean is this.
Compared to most tourist areas, the beaches on Anna Maria Island are clean, however, in recent years, the beaches of Anna Maria Island have become less pristine than in the past.
Explain you say.
Ok, as I read recently in a post on another Anna Maria Island blog, "Although the beaches of Anna Maria Island are still clean when compared to most other beaches, there has been an increase in litter from both boaters and beach goers, and they simply are not as clean as they used to be."
It is hard to say just how much of the trash on the beaches of Anna Maria is actually washed ashore. For sure some of it is. But all you have to do is watch people and it becomes painfully apparent that much of it comes from the people on the beach.
Of course as a human being, I'm used to seeing trash. In most places in America all you have to do is look and you can see trash no matter where you are. The biggest concern is how all this trash will affect the local wildlife.
Anna Maria Island's sea turtles, for example, eat jelly fish. Does that mean a turtle could mistake a plastic bag or other form of beach trash for food? I'm no expert, but I can only imagine the answer is yes.
An even more likely event is a bird, fish or other animal becoming entangled in plastic trash. Six pack rings are notorious for causing harm to wildlife and should never be allowed in the environment.
A perfect example that most people wouldn't even think about is the discards from fishing.
Fishing is something we do for sport, food, recreation and relaxation. If you are catching and releasing its hard to imagine that sport fishing is impacting the environment in a way that is dangerous to the local wildlife. But the fact is, we’ve all seen birds entangled in discarded fishing line. Yet many recreational fishermen continue to be oblivious to the risks they pose to the wildlife around them.
If you walk the beaches of Anna Maria, it used to be all you would find was sand and shells and all things natural. Now when you walk the beach you see small pieces of colored plastic mixed in with the sand. This plastic is from containers of all types, even toys that have been discarded.
This stuff is going to take a very long time to decompose. In the mean time, in makes sense that some of these small, curious pieces might be of interest to birds and other wildlife that happens to spend time on the beaches.
It is no mystery as to why so much plastic is found in the stomachs of dead sea birds.
Special events such as July 4th celebrations and Bayfest bring large crowds to the beach and the litter that comes with them.
July 4th celebrations used to be particularly hard on our beaches and the inhabiting wildlife, until law enforcement began cracking down on private fireworks. The amount of firework's trash that could be found along the island’s beaches on the morning of July 5th was nothing less than appaling!
Fortunately, there are people on the island who walk the beach with garbage bags, picking up a lot of the trash left behind, following one of these celebrations. These are individuals who are not paid for their service, nor are they organized. They are simply conscientious citizens trying to keep the place they love... clean and beautiful for all to enjoy.
We can all take a lesson from these custodians of the planet in which we live.
The next time you go for a walk along the beaches in your neighborhood, take a bag with you. Every time you bend over to pick up an attractive stone or shell, pick up some trash and put it in your bag. You would be surprised at quickly you can fill that bag.
We can all do our part, one bag at a time.
After all, for those who truly love Earth's beaches and the wildlife that inhabits them, carrying a bag with you and removing just some of the unsightly and injurious trash should be as gratifying an activity as the collecting of things of beauty.
Remember... Keep Anna Maria Island beaches clean and beautiful, while helping to protect the local sea birds, fish and other wildlife that depend on those beaches.
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