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Saturday morning, the Friends of Tigertail and other volunteers participated in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up at Tigertail Beach.

Keep Collier Beautiful provided T-shirts with sponsor names as well as gloves and plastic garbage bags. Kinetico home water systems provided bottled water for the volunteers.

More than 45 people participated in the clean-up at Tigertail Beach. The volunteers were assigned to select areas to insure the most coverage. Everyone was issued International Coastal Clean-up data cards, used to keep track of items collected.

The Ocean Conservancy will be able to compile and analyze these data and identify the activities and general sources of the debris. An annual report will then be created and distributed to help educate the public, business, industry, and government officials about the marine debris issues.

Members of the Marco Island Boy Scout Troop 234 were among the 45 volunteers. Under the direction of Scout Master Rick Grootveld, they cleaned up the playground area, parking lot and then moved to help clean up the beach area.

Pam and Darrell Dillard, from Bourbon, Miss., joined the volunteering efforts. The Dillards are vacationing on Marco Island and decided to participate. Pam signed up even before arriving on the island. “This was a good opportunity to give back to the community,” she said.

The clean up also helped build new friendships. Jack Dunn and Gail Fox, for example, were paired together and immediately struck up a friendship.

Dunn said, “I had the nicest company in the whole world. I acquired another granddaughter!”

Fox said, “It is good to come out and clean up. There is a lot of extra trash from the storms this season.”

Diane Wruk and Cindy Blatt also met during the event. This was the second year for Wruk.

“I have lived on the Island for 10 years and it is time for me to do my part to give back,” she said. “It is important we all do what we can and lend a hand.”

This was Blatt’s first year. “This was very very rewarding. I will be doing this every single time.”

This is the 23rd Coastal Clean-up.

It all started with the inspiration of one woman, an Ocean Conservancy’s staff member, who was walking along the beach of South Padre Island, Texas and was appalled at the amount of trash she saw. She immediately felt compelled to do something. She organized a beach clean-up and in a mere two hours, 2,800 Texans picked up 124 tons of trash.

A world wide movement has grown out of that one event. In the 23 years since that first clean-up, it has grown to include volunteers in 127 countries and all 55 U.S. states and territories. Last year more than 378,000 volunteers participated in clean-ups around every major body of water around the globe.

On the third Saturday in September each year, the International Coastal Clean-up provides a direct and tangible way for individuals to make a difference for one of the largest problems we face — trash in the ocean. Volunteers record the trash found on land and underwater allowing the Ocean Conservancy a global snapshot of the problem.

“Our ocean is sick,” says Laura Capps, senior vice president at Ocean Conservancy. “And the plain truth is that our ocean ecosystem cannot protect us unless it is healthy and resilient. Harmful impacts like trash in the ocean, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction are taking its toll. But the good news is that hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are starting a sea change by joining together to clean up the ocean. Trash doesn’t fall from the sky it falls from people’s hands. With the International Coastal Clean-up, everyone has an opportunity to make a difference, not just on one day but all year long.”

Trash in the ocean kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year through ingestion and entanglement. Common debris that can be deadly are plastic bags, fishing line, fishing nets, six-pack holders, string from a balloon or kite, glass bottles and cans.

Prevention is the real solution to trash in the ocean. The International Coastal Clean-up volunteers make ocean conservation an everyday priority.

The Friends of Tigertail schedules four clean-ups per year. The next clean-up is scheduled for Dec. 6. For more information on The Friends of Tigertail Beach, visit their Web site at www.FriendsofTigertail.com