Santa Barbara Adventure Company proudly participated in the 8th Annual Santa Barbara Harbor Clean Sweep, a volunteer program sponsored by the Santa Barbara Waterfront to help keep the harbor clean. This year, volunteers and waterfront staff cleaned up Marine One slip fingers “M” through “P.” This event would not have been possible without the volunteer divers that scope out the area before the event and take note of locations of garbage in the harbor.
On the day of the event, they dive down and retrieve items, often by tethering ropes to larger items and having volunteers hoist up garbage. Volunteers load up wheelbarrows full of trash and cart it up to the dumpster. Santa Barbara Adventure Company enjoys participating in the Santa Barbara Harbor Clean Sweep because it’s a way to give back to the community and to our environment which we all share.
The ocean is a common resource and we need to work together to protect it and help make it safe for ocean life. Andrea Dransfield, an employee at Santa Barbara Adventure Company, states
“I do the harbor clean-up every year and it’s very rewarding. I take it upon myself to make sure all sea creatures collected along with the garbage are safely returned to the sea.”
During the clean-up, a record number of two-spotted octopi were seen hiding in the garbage. We even found an octopus nest in a pipe! Last year only a couple octopi were found so this is good news for the populations in the harbor. We also found many small white eggs covering the surfaces of several items we pulled up. They may be octopus eggs but we are not sure. Please comment if you know what kind of eggs these are!
Among the tons of trash recovered from the harbor this year, we found a microwave, glasses/cups, an uncorked wine bottle, a bicycle, garbage bins, steps, brooms, a fisherman’s receiver, and more!
