Countywide : Volunteers to Scour Beaches, Ocean Waters

Hundreds of Orange County residents on Saturday are expected to take part--both above and below the water line--in Coastal Cleanup Day, a statewide day of beach cleaning and environmental awareness that begins at 8 a.m. on most county beaches.

In Laguna Beach, scuba divers will be scouring local reefs and kelp forests for underwater garbage. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at seven local beaches, and organizers say it will be the largest coastline and underwater cleanup in city history.

In Seal Beach, volunteers will gather at the pier to receive gloves, trash bags and tally sheets for listing the type and amount of trash collected. It is the first year that Seal Beach volunteers will itemize the trash collected in conjunction with a national survey of beach debris conducted by the Center for Marine Conservation in San Francisco.

At the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, the cleanup is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon. Last year, the annual cleanup attracted more than 200 volunteers. But this year, more than 300 are needed.