THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 13, 1994 TAG: 9408130298
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FENWICK ISLAND, DEL. LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
For the first time ever, volunteers in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia will participate in a joint coastal cleanup of the Delmarva Peninsula.
The cleanup will target the Atlantic beaches and the shores of the Chesapeake and Delaware bays and their tributaries.
The effort recognizes that what goes into Maryland or Virginia's water and sand will often make its way to Delaware and vice versa, according to Delaware's environmental chief.
The cleanup will be conducted Sept. 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at nearly 60 locations around the peninsula. The rain date in Sept. 24.
``The only way it's postponed is if a monsoon hits,'' Matt Likovich, spokesman for Delmarva Power, the chief corporate sponsor of the event, said Friday.
Roughly 50 of the sites are in Delaware. The Maryland sites include Ocean City, Betterton Beach, Pocomoke River, Pocomoke City, Terrapin Park on Kent Island and the Nanticoke River near Vienna, Md.
James Dunmyer, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said the cleanup exemplifies a department goal to enhance the state's natural resources.
``Removing trash from the coastal areas is critical to that goal.''
The Virginia sites include Assateague Island and Kiptopeke State Park in Kiptopeke, Va.
``This year is especially rewarding because all three states on the Delmarva Peninsula are working together on this environmental and educational project for the betterment of the peninsula,'' said Eric Walbeck, with the Committee to Preserve Assateague Island Inc.
The event consolidates a number of independent cleanup programs conducted in the three states.
Delaware, for instance, has conducted its ``Get the Drift and Bag It'' campaign for seven years.
``We thought it would be neat to make it a true Delmarva coastal cleanup. True we're not dealing with all that many sites in Maryland and Virginia, but at least it's a start,'' Likovich said.
Volunteers will clean up snack food wrappers, beverage cans and fishing nets, six-pack rings and other debris.
``They are not only ugly, but a tremendous environmental hazard,'' Tulou said.
The nets and rings can entangle marine life and shore birds. Plastic bags lodge in their stomachs and kill them.
The types and amount of trash collected will be recorded and data sent to the Center for Marine Conservation in Hampton, which compiles information from cleanups around the world.
From the center, officials can learn the source of the debris and find ways to eliminate it. by CNB