Shorelines Cleanup

In the fall of 2020, San Antonio Bay Partnership began organizing a Shorelines Cleanup around the Port O’Connor area, with help from the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Much like the Abandoned Crab Trap Cleanup efforts, volunteers head out in boats and kayaks to small island shorelines throughout Matagorda Bay, Espiritu Santo Bay, and San Antonio Bay. Armed with gloves and bags, volunteers walk or paddle to collect trash—often hidden in cordgrass and mangroves. It’s not easy work, but the impact is clear.

Over the years, volunteers have logged every item collected. Plastic bottles are by far the most common, followed by plastic pieces, aluminum cans, and plastic bags.

17,708 plastic drink bottles removed from our local bays in just 5 years.

Join us this year!