OC Coastkeeper hosts beach cleanup for Kids Ocean Day

Kids from all over Orange County hit the beaches Tuesday afternoon to help clean up their shores as part of Kids Ocean Day, an educational outreach program that encourages kids to learn about coastal quality issues.

OC Coastkeeper officials said about 1,000 students from 12 elementary schools countywide came out to Huntington State Beach to remove an estimated 300 pounds of garbage from the sand and to create a giant message in the sand that reflected this year’s theme, “Make Ripples of Positive Change.”

Mona Sharia looks for pieces of plastic from the sand during the Orange County Coastkeeper’s Kids Ocean Day at Huntington State Beach on Tuesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“We want the students to know that the ocean starts at their front door,” said Michaela Coats, education director at Orange County Coastkeeper in a statement. “Kids Ocean Day teaches students how marine debris travels through our waterways to the beach and empowers them to take meaningful steps to protect our environment.”

Leading up to the cleanup, the nonprofit’s staff members visit schools to teach students about marine debris and coastal conservation.

Kids Ocean Day is coordinated by the California Coastal Commission, which does so statewide with proceeds from the Whale Tail License Plate and donations on state tax returns for the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund.

An overhead shot of the aerial art made on Huntington State Beach on Tuesday as part of Kids Ocean Day.

(Courtesy of Orange County Coastkeeper)