When you’re visiting the beaches in Clearwater and the surrounding areas, you may be required by law to make sure all your items go with you when you leave or else face a hefty fine.
If you’ve visited Bamboo Beach Club Resort in the summer, you probably know it’s sea turtle nesting season, and some local residents are concerned the debris and leftover stuff beachgoers just leave behind could be interfering.
And they’re trying to do something about it. In this article from the Tampa Bay Times, locals express their concern and their desire for action.
Michael and Nancy Furlong enjoy their early morning walks on the beach. But lately they’ve become the source of lots of consternation.
Portions of Sunset Beach on the south end of Treasure Island are littered with the metal skeletons of beach canopies, tents and cabanas left daily by beachgoers along with beach chairs, inflatable tubes and other beach paraphernalia.
“There’s enough stuff to start a sporting goods store,” Michael Furlong said. “It’s getting worse and worse.”
Aside from not being aesthetically pleasing, the Furlongs and other residents like Laurel Zimmer and Lexie Stolen say it’s an unnecessary obstruction to nesting sea turtles, some who are making false crawls after failing to find a place to lay their eggs.
The Sunset Beach residents, fed up with the littering, are pushing the city to take action.
The grass roots effort, which began with a Facebook posting of the litter, has grown into a citizens’ movement.
“We made up fliers and gave (them) out to each house and then contacted our city commissioner,” Zimmer said.
The group hopes the city will adopt an ordinance similar to one recently approved in Madeira Beach that prohibits leaving personal items overnight on the beach.
The “Leave No Trace” ordinance identifies personal property left overnight on the beach as a nuisance and violators can be fined up to $500.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has signs posted at most of the beach crossovers telling beachgoers about sea turtles and hatching season and asking that they remove cabanas and other items that might interfere with nesting.
But people just walk past the signs and don’t pay any attention, Zimmer said.
City Manager Reid Silverboard said the city attorney has been asked to draft an ordinance to present to commissioners at their July 19 workshop.
The city’s current abandoned property ordinance doesn’t cover the beach items being left behind, he said.
Although the Clearwater Beach is a short convenient walk from Bamboo Beach Club Resort, it’s best to take all of your things back to the resort and store them in your vehicle or room.
Are you a good beach citizen? Share your tips for keeping our beaches cleaner, safer and more pleasant for everyone!
Read the source article at Tampa Bay, Florida news
The post Be a Good Beach Citizen: Don’t Leave Items Behind appeared first on Blog Bamboo Beach Club Resort.