‘How do I know that this piece of trash I pick up won’t be the one that kills some dolphin?’

As the sun broke through the morning fog Saturday in Palos Verdes Estates, Martin Byhower tried to pump some enthusiasm into the 12 teen-agers and two adults who had assembled at the parking lot of Malaga Cove Intermediate School.

“OK, everyone, we are going to work until noon or until we get tired,” he told the group as they huddled around him and drank hot chocolate to stay warm.

“Today we are only going to pick up plastics and recyclables. Remember, it’s not how big it is that’s important, it’s what is the most harmful to marine life,” he said.

And with that the Chadwick School Ecology Club and Byhower, its adviser, made their way down the cliffs to nearby Malaga Cove Beach. There they would spend the rest of the morning picking up pieces of plastic foam cups, fishing line, plastic six-pack rings and other man-made trash scattered along the beach.

The goal was to rid the beach of plastic materials that each year kill countless numbers of sea gulls, sea lions, dolphins and other marine life that eat the debris, mistaking it for food, Byhower said.

Other debris, like fishing line, rope, nets and six-pack rings, is dangerous to marine animals that become entangled and eventually die from their injuries, he said.

“These damn plastics will last for about 400 years,” he said. “They will just keep on killing.”

According to a recent report by Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental group, up to 2 million sea birds and about 100,000 sea lions, dolphins and whales die each year after swallowing or becoming entangled in man-made debris.

The report also notes that in Los Angeles County, beach-goers leave an average of 75 tons of trash per week on public beaches.

Such figures prompted 15-year-old Jean Chung and her friend, Tracy Lam, 16, to give up a sunny Saturday morning to rummage through sand and rocks for plastic combs, straws, pieces of rope and other discarded items.

“Turtles think plastic bags are jellyfish, and they eat them and suffocate and die,” said Chung as she reached down for a piece of plastic foam.

Lam, who held the garbage bag while Chung searched for more debris, agreed. “They should make plastics biodegradable. Then we wouldn’t have to do this.”

Eric Dolbratz, 15, said, “I think the main thing is that it’s just got to get done.” He believes so much in the club’s efforts that he persuaded his mother to join the cause.

“A lot of hands do accomplish a lot,” said May Dolbratz, a Palos Verdes Estates homemaker. “I’m impressed by these young people. They have a focus.”

Their hard work does not go unrewarded. The Palos Verdes Estates Maintenance Department pays the group $3 for every large garbage bag filled.

Palos Verdes Estates has been providing cash to local youth groups like the ecology club for about a year, said George Puls, the city’s senior maintenance officer. The program is not formally endorsed by the city, he said, but “the city just kind of goes along with it.”

Puls said there is a $30-per-person limit, and interested groups must make arrangements ahead of time with the Maintenance Department.

Groups like the ecology club provide a valuable service, Puls said. Since the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors cannot maneuver its trash-raking tractors between the cliffs and rocks at Malaga Cove Beach, it is up to individuals to keep the beach clean, he said.

“The trash gets really bad, especially after a storm,” Puls said.

Krista Danielson, the club’s vice president, said the club usually donates the money it earns to worldwide environmental and animal preservation groups, such as those trying to save the rain forests of Brazil and the mountain gorillas of Africa.

But she said the club, which has about 25 members, makes most of its money through ice cream and bake sales at the school.

Byhower said the club usually raises about $1,500 a year for such causes. “We do fairly well,” he said.

Although the group can fill only about five bags in one morning, Byhower said the money and the amount of trash collected is not that important.

“The money is only a fringe benefit,” he said.

More important, he said, is making people aware of the harmful impact discarded debris has on marine life.

Byhower, who recently underwent back surgery and uses a long metal device to pick up trash, said every piece of debris he and club members collect can be vital.

“How do I know that this piece of trash I pick up won’t be the one that kills some dolphin?” he asked while putting a torn plastic bag into his garbage bag.