The Santa Barbara Waterfront is Cleaner After Weekend Efforts
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The collaboration of many volunteers and groups have helped to take out bags of trash and discarded items in the Santa Barbara waterfront.
The annual “Operation Clean Sweep” took place in the Santa Barbara Harbor over the weekend.
Those participating from the waterfront staff, environmental groups and volunteers pulled out many items that were discarded into the ocean and sank to the bottom o the harbor.
The focus was in the Marina 4 area and also near the sport fishing docks.
The area is known for items that have fallen off of boats and also trash that has blown into the harbor and swirls into corners where docks are located.
The Santa Barbara Waterfront Department says Operation Clean Sweep brought in 2,200 pounds of junk.
Partners included – Salty Dog Dive Service, dockside volunteers from SB Channelkeeper, Stanford Club of SB, and the SB Sail and Power Squadron.
There was also a united clean up nearby involving the non-profit Tidy Seas, Mountain Air Sports and Teva shoes made by Deckers.
Volunteers came to the pop-ups at Mountain Air on lower State Street, grabbed gloves and a picker and took a bucket as they went on their search for debris. Teva offered shoes to try out during the project work.
Filled buckets came back in and were dumped in trash bags.
Tidy Seas offered those participating some coffee from Starbucks, burritos from Mony’s and the Solis drink from Sunstone.
The combination effort covered an area from the Funk Zone and Stearns Wharf to the eastern end of the harbor.
The Tidy Seas volunteers have also been along the beaches and in the near shore waters cleaning up leftover lobster tracks.
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