Islanders clear over 640 pounds of beach trash

On New Year’s Day, the Beach BeFrienders cleared more than 640 pounds of trash from Lobsterville Beach in Aquinnah. 

Dubbed the “First Day Lobsterville Sweep,” Beach BeFrienders organizer Laurisa Rich said the beach cleanup attracted over 100 Islanders to the up-Island beach. 

“It was so well attended they also flaked out to Red Beach, Ox Cart Beach, Philbin, and [Moshup Beach],” she said. “One intrepid family dragged up multiple lobster pots from Pilot’s Landing.”

Rich told The Times that the volunteers’ trucks were “overflowing,” so Aquinnah town personnel also picked up a load, and sent out an all-terrain vehicle to remove some bigger pieces of garbage that were “too big to drag.” 

“The funnest find of the day were mako shark vertebrae,” Rich said. “We thought it was plastic!”

The cleanup was a continued response to the storm that struck the Island last month. The Beach BeFrienders also organized an “emergency cleanup” at Squibnocket Beach in December, and cleared more than 300 pounds of trash. 

Sponsored by the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Beach BeFrienders have more beach cleanups planned for the year. The next one will be done in collaboration with the Lagoon Pond Association in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which the U.S. Department of the Interior notes is designated by Congress as a national day of service. 

Rich said the next beach cleanup will take place from 2 pm until sunset on Jan. 15, and volunteers will be posted at three locations around the Lagoon with “bags, gloves, and ice cream tokens for the kids,” although she did recommend that people bring their own gloves and reused bags, if they have them. 

The cleanups are planned at Lagoon Pond landing, Medeiros Cove at Sailing Camp Park in Oak Bluffs, and the beach behind Beach Road Restaurant in the Tisbury Marketplace. 

“Bring your joy of service in honor of [Martin Luther King Jr],” Rich said.