FMSA Teams Up with Genentech's Green Genes

By Elizabeth Kovats
Published: June 2007

Genentech volunteers clean the beach.

Last month Genentech hit the beach!  Their grass roots volunteer team Green Genes joined FMSA staff in Half Moon Bay and swept across Dunes Beach collecting trash and debris.

Blue skies abounded on Saturday May 12th and the biotech greenies and their families enjoyed a beautiful sunny day on the coast.  The volunteers were first briefed on the impacts debris has on the marine environment.  Then they all set out in teams of four, to clean up the trash.  Cigarette butts and Styrofoam were the most common forms of litter found on the beach. 

Throughout the day, they learned that marine debris accounts for significant damage to our oceans and wildlife.  Comprised of both land and boating waste, marine debris is a cumbersome but important issue to tackle.  Land waste – illegal dumping, storm drains, litter, sewer overflows – accounts for as much as 80% of all marine debris.  Boating waste, while less harmful percentage-wise, is still a killer – abandoned fishing nets snare as many as 30,000 northern fur seals annually.  Other types of marine waste include off shore oil and gas exploration, as well as galley waste from cargo ships and cruise liners.

Plastics are the worst offender – unable to decompose naturally, once they become a part of the oceanic environment they remain for countless years.  Plastic has been named “the killer that keeps on killing”.  For example, if a seagull ingests plastic bottle caps, mistaking them for fish eggs, the gull will eventually perish.  As it decomposes, the plastic is swept back out to sea by the tide, to be consumed once again by another hungry seabird.  Furthermore, once plastic bags reach the ocean floor – immobile plants and animals such as coral can be trapped and suffocated. 

The thirty Genentech volunteers, including kids, had a great time combing down the beach looking for debris.  One of their finds was a huge rubber tire.  After a hard morning’s work cleaning up Dunes Beach, they relaxed for a little lunch. 

If you are interested in getting involved in cleaning our beaches, contact FMSA’s Volunteer Coordinator Joanne Mohr at jmohr@farallones.org.  “We’re trying to get people to understand that how we live affects our ocean,” Joanne says.  “It’s not just reduce, reuse, recycle – it’s rethink”. 

Plastic bags, thankfully are going to be a way of the past at SF’s largest supermarket retailers.  This is one important step… but continue to challenge yourself with innovative ways to keep our oceans and beaches clean!  How about foregoing the impulsive bottled water selection in favor of a reusable option such as Nalgene?  Or bringing a canvas bag with you to the grocery store?  Once you make these kinds of transitions you will enjoy the beach even more, cognizant you are making a dedicated effort to free our earth of unnecessary waste.  Trust me - you may even get thanked by a seal pup for keeping marine debris at bay… and out of the bay!