On Saturday, under the leadership of Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation beach cleanup coordinator Peter Snell, and partners from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and Bureau of Land Management, a total of 29 volunteers helped haul out over 1000 lbs of crab gear at Yaquina Head.
The different tasks that were performed were cutting of buoys, cutting of rope in as long of lengths as was possible or as large of chunks of rope as was possible, carrying of buoys and rope to lava outcrop for transport over the wall via burlap sack tied to a rope that was then hoisted over the wall, carrying of bagged floats or rope and bundles of rope over cobble beach and up stairway to dumpster.
There are over 100 steps to the stairway at the site. To avoid damaging the mussel beds, debris was hoisted over the lava outcrop rather than going around it. Several extremely distorted remnants of commercial crab pots were removed from the rope pile. More crab pot remnants, rope, pole with 5 ton davit attached, miscellaneous metal ship remnants, and a float or two still remain in the mass of rope on the shore. With volunteers cutting debris for a full 2 1/2 hours approximately 1/3 of the rope was removed from the site. Another 2/3 if not more remains. Hopes are that we can gather for another cleanup soon and keep this mess from returning to the ocean and causing damage to wildlife etc.
