As part of the North Carolina Big Sweep effort to remove trash and other harmful debris from coastal areas, the volunteer group Wrightsville Beach - Keep It Clean held a clean-up event at the south end of Wrightsville Beach this past Saturday. The area was the site of this summer's successful tern and skimmer colony. Not only did the volunteers collect bags full of trash from the beach strand and dunes, they found the remains of two birds that had been impacted by improperly discarded fishing line.
This juvenile Black Skimmer hatched on south Wrightsville Beach but died of entanglement in fishing line. By Lindsay Addison
The first was a Black Skimmer that died from entanglement, and the second was one of the two chicks belonging to the adult American Oystercatcher that became tangled in fishing line. While these were sad finds for volunteer Nancy Fahey and for myself and Brianna Elliott who monitored the oystercatcher chicks all summer, they will hopefully serve as reminders that picking up trash, especially fishing line, matters. Ginger Taylor is Keep It Clean's coordinator, and her blog post summarizing the day is an excellent explanation of why people like her are so inspired to work to preserve healthy, clean habitats for all wildlife.
