Dear editor:
On the weekend our family visited the Cape Palmerston Rec site near Raft Cove Provincial Park, also known as 3-Minute Beach.
There was lots of garbage washed ashore, in particular large Styrofoam floats and chunks, also pieces of rope, net and many plastic bottles.
There was more than we’ve seen before and I suspect this is the just the start of what we can expect for years to come as the debris from the Japanese tsunami comes ashore.
We collected a large bag of the smaller pieces, but didn’t have room for all the large floats.
So we gathered them into several piles above the tide line at the edge of the woods where at least they will not continue to break up into smaller and smaller bits which marine birds and animals might mistake as food.
We’ll bring a truck with us next time and remove what we can each visit.
I urge everyone who visits our lovely West Coast beaches to go prepared with a couple of heavy-duty garbage bags.
I expect that the next decade will see an overwhelming amount of debris washed up on these beaches, and it will take effort from everyone to deal with it.
Also I trust that the community spirit that our town showed for the Big Decision community event will again be demonstrated at Sunday’s Pitch-In Event.
Heather Jones
Port Hardy