Adam Charboneau, left, and daughter Leah, both of Port Jefferson, NY, pick up debris at West Meadow Park while attending the 2024 Halloween Coastal Clean on Oct. 26. Charboneau, an environmental historian and lecturer in SBU’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and 7-year-old Leah joined the cleanup dressed as Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. Credit: Rose Weldon/New York Sea Grant
— Published by Stony Brook University's SBU News
Stony Brook, NY, October 30, 2024 - More than 20 local volunteers of all ages joined together on the morning of Saturday, October 26, to collect trash from the sands of West Meadow Beach in Setauket, NY, as part of the third annual Halloween Coastal Clean.
As part of the event, organized by New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), children and families from surrounding areas were encouraged to sport costumes to celebrate the season. The event was part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which aims to clean coastal environments and document the varieties of trash being collected in beaches across the world.
Participants were asked to count how many pieces of glass, wood, paper, and plastic they picked up, with an emphasis on microplastics, and ultimately collected 13 buckets of debris over the course of the two-hour event, in addition to large items such as part of a shopping cart.
Along with LISS and NYSG, partners for the event included the Nature Initiative at the Avalon Nature Preserve, the Friends of Flax Pond, and the Town of Brookhaven.
For more on the topic of marine debris, see $5.2+M Awarded to NY Sea Grant to Address Marine Debris or visit nyseagrant.org/marinedebris.
Long Island Sound Study is an estuary program focused on the conservation, restoration and protection of Long Island Sound and its surrounding habitats. The program is currently wrapping up the revision of its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, which will guide conservation across the Sound region in New York and Connecticut for the next decade. Residents interested in giving input on this draft can send their comments to LISstudy.net/plan by November 22.
In Photos: 2024 Halloween Coastal Clean
Nancy Goldstein of East Setauket brings in another bucketful of debris during the 2024 Halloween Coastal Clean in West Meadow Park on Saturday. The program estimates that volunteers picked up 12 buckets of beach debris, including microplastics, during the event. Credit: Rose Weldon/New York Sea Grant
Hart Nguyen of East Setauket with part of a shopping cart, found during his trash search. Credit: Rose Weldon/New York Sea Grant
“Ghostbusters” Brody, left, and Abigail Shaw of Port Jefferson joined the 2024 Halloween Coastal Clean in West Meadow Park on Saturday. Credit: Rose Weldon/New York Sea Grant
Organizers weigh buckets of debris picked up off the beach at West Meadow Park during the 2024 Halloween Coastal Clean. Credit: Rose Weldon/New York Sea Grant
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.