Volunteers Pitch In to Help County Clean Up Marina

The small armada of Los Angeles County boats cleaning up trash in Marina del Rey received reinforcements Wednesday when the Santa Monica BayKeeper launched a program of volunteer “aqua cops” to run the county’s equipment during off-hours.

Because of budget constraints, the county’s Department of Beaches and Harbors can only spend four hours a day, four days a week operating two motorized skimmer boats that scoop trash out of the marina waters. But as part of a three-prong Clean-a-Marina program, BayKeeper, a nonprofit environmental group, raised money to pay for liability insurance and organized 10 U.S. Coast Guard captains to volunteer two hours a week to operate the skimmer boats.

“This unique partnership between a private nonprofit agency and the county is an excellent example of how concerned citizens, groups and public agencies can work together to improve our environment,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.

Winter rains, storm drains and the tide bring gallons of garbage into the harbor, contaminating the waters and tangling with the boats.

“Marine trash coming out of storm drains is one of the worst problems facing the Santa Monica Bay,” said Terry Tamminen, BayKeeper’s executive director. The harbor “ends up being a huge conduit for trash.”

County staff members welcomed the news and said they lack the personnel to clean up the hundreds of pounds of plastics and paper that float in during the week and the tons that descend into the marina after a big storm.

“This is where the BayKeeper will be so much help to us. They can activate these boats immediately with their volunteers,” said Wayne Schumaker, chief of facilities and property maintenance for the Department of Beaches and Harbors. “I’ve been praying for this for a long time.”

BayKeeper had already been working on combating pollution in the marina. Two years ago, the organization stocked each boat dock with signs explaining how to dispose of hazardous waste and with pool skimmers boat owners can use to fish out garbage around their vessels.