In an effort to help keep our beaches clean, The Wetlands Institute served as a Beach Captain for Clean Ocean Action’s Spring Beach Clean-up for 7-mile Island on April 30. Twenty-three people, including members of Stone Harbor’s Borough Council and Police Department, showed up to remove trash and debris from the beach. In total, we collected 500 pounds of debris! Join us with your friends and family on October 22 for the fall Beach Sweep. It’s a great way to help the beaches we enjoy so much.

This spring we also organized cleanups at three Delaware Bay beaches with reTURN the Favor partners and volunteers to improve conditions for the horseshoe crab spawning season. Large concrete rubble, construction material, tires, monofilament line, and trash were among the items removed. Each year, thousands of crabs become stuck in these hazards on our beaches. We’re working to minimize these losses by rescuing impinged crabs and reducing risks on these important spawning beaches. We are grateful to NJ Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership for their financial support of this work.