A Successful Cleanup Day at Sagamore Creek

Sophie Oehler | August 16, 2022

Tags:: Wildlife,; Volunteers

Paddler's view of an orange kayak with clipboard in the ocean — The view from a cleaning kayaker on Sagamore Creek.

Last Monday, volunteers gathered at Creek Farm in Portsmouth to spend the day collecting litter spread across the property and in Sagamore Creek.

The event was led and organized by the Blue Ocean Society, an organization out of Portsmouth that focuses on marine preservation and education through beach clean ups, marine debris research, and whale watches and studies.

Items of litter laid out on a stony beach — Examples of litter include a Ziploc bag, pieces of styrofoam and the strap of a computer bag

Volunteers spent the day either walking the beach, clearing trash from the shore, or kayaking and stand up paddle boarding up the creek, removing litter from the water.

The team collected 151 items of garbage, all of which weighed in at 23.5 pounds.

"I'm taking this as an indication that lots of people who recreate on Sagamore Creek are picking up trash before it gets tangled up in the saltmarsh and beach wrack," said Melissa Paly, the Conservation Law Foundation's Great Bay–Piscataqua Waterkeeper.

Among the litter were pieces of clay pottery, a strap to a computer bag, a single Croc shoe, and plenty of plastic cling wrap.

An orange bucket full of littered plastic wrap

Blue Ocean Society holds public beach clean ups throughout the month. To learn more about their mission, or to sign up for a clean up event, visit their website at blueoceansociety.org.