By Nanette Wiser
Mark June 10th 8am-5pm on your calendar to help collect trash and debris…and even win prizes during the annual St. Pete Ocean Sweep Trash Collection Tournament. Participation is free. The event begins at 8am. Weigh-ins start at 12:30pm and run until 2:30pm at Crabby’s on the Pass in Treasure Island. An awards ceremony, auction and free lunch will follow the event at Crabby’s on the Pass. Proceeds from the auction benefit Camp Coral SCUBA Camp scholarships.
The Ocean Sweep tournaments are a team cleanup competition for prizes with youth categories. The cleanup will focus on the area’s intracoastal waterways, mangroves, beaches, and parks, as well as a dive cleanup of the bay floor. You must register your team at WaterWarriorAlliance.org. There are several prize categories. They include the most unique item, total weight, the most single-use items, and the most abandoned anchors retrieved for divers. Interested teams should attend a Captain’s meeting 6/8 from 5pm at Crabby’s on the Pass.
Last year, the Ocean Sweep Trash Collection Tournaments helped recover tons of debris from Tampa and this year’s tournament is hosted by Water Warrior Alliance. Also supporting the event are Gulfport Dive Center (free charters and SCUBA gear), Freedom Boat Club (providing vessel support) and Repair the Seas (creating the Captain trophies from upcycled plastic bottles).
You can still be a sponsor for this event by making a donation, tournament prizes or providing giveaways for the volunteers (t-shirts, reusable cups, sunblock, sanitizer, fishing or dive swag, beach goodies, sunglasses, etc.) Want to do more all year round? Become a part of the solution to plastic pollution and join The Water Warrior Alliance in removing debris from our waters.
P.S. Keep Pinellas Beautiful recently named Water Warrior Alliance founder Jenna Byrne “Adoption Volunteer of the Year.” As part of her organization’s impact, Jenna has adopted two Watergoats, aquatic litter-catching devices, in partnership with KPB and is responsible for keeping them free of trash. Over the last year, she has done 23 cleanups events with 155 volunteers. These volunteers worked 381 hours and filled 398 bags of trash totaling 3,772 pounds.
