Site co-ordinators and participants are still being sought for the Comox Valley portion of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
Celebrating 20 years this fall, the conservation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium and WWF, is calling on Canadians to sign up now at ShorelineCleanup.ca as site co-ordinators or participants for this fall's cleanup from Sept. 21 to 29.
During last year's cleanup, 45 animals were found entangled, including 22 fish, 10 birds (including gulls, swans, and heron), and even a fox.
Shoreline litter can also pose safety risks to humans, and cause disruptions or imbalances within the local ecosystem.
The goal of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup this year is to enlist 64,000 site co-ordinators and volunteers to participate, an unprecedented goal for the program. Last year, Shoreline Cleanup collected 136,000-plus kilograms of shoreline litter, reflecting the high level of need for more help this year.
As with every year, site co-ordinators will catalogue which litter items will be collected in the highest numbers on Canada's shorelines.
Last year, the biggest culprits were cigarettes and cigarette filters (nearly 417,000 items collected), food wrappers/containers (nearly 99,000 items collected), and plastic bags (nearly 70,000 items collected).
These items landed the top spots on Shoreline Cleanup's 2012 Dirty Dozen list, along with caps/lids, beverage bottles/cans, food serving ware, straws/stirrers, paper bags, tobacco packaging and building materials.
The cleanup is sponsored by Loblaw Companies Limited.
For information about the many cleanup sites in the Comox Valley, visit http://www.shorelinecleanup.ca/en/search/cleanups/fall2013.
— Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup