Trash, Fishing Gear and Mounds of Items Hauled off Santa Cruz Island

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - We're getting a chance to hear about some of the strangest things collected from Chinese Harbor on Santa Cruz Island during a recent cleanup effort.

Laura Sanchez, Communications Director for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper shared details about the collaborative, daylong excursion.

"This event is part of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s larger effort to remove marine debris
from five different marine sanctuaries across California, Washington, and the Gulf of Mexico a project
supported by a 2023 award from the NOAA Marine Debris Program."

"I found a syringe, a football and, a lot of salsa containers," said Helen Perez, with a laugh.

Perez was one of 18 volunteers from seven group who trekked out to the Channel Islands that day. Sanchez said together they collected about 775 pounds of trash. 

Photographer Matt Dayka documented the event with beautiful photographs; Intern Ella Engel took video testimonials, asking the volunteers about the crazy, weird things they found.

"What's the most interesting thing you found out here today?" Engel asked. "We found a huge, rusted piece of a ship's engine buried in the rocks," said Alex Negrila, a student from Pepperdine.

"The craziest thing I found was so much Starbucks. So many lids, so many plastic cups," said Niki Mazaroli with Open Water.

Emma Beaver with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation said the strangest thing she plucked from the rocky shore was an irrigation line tangled up in seaweed and sticks.

Rich Powell said he found something useful.

"I found a green hat and it came in handy cuz I wore it the rest of the afternoon out here cleaning."

The volunteers also collected mylar balloons, lots of plastic bottles, rusty metal traps, even shoes.

"They ferried the trash from shore using kayaks and a skiff and loaded it onto boats that brought it back to the mainland for proper disposal," Sanchez shared in a press release.

Whale and a pod of dolphins entertained the group during their ocean voyage, seemingly thanking the volunteers for their day of hard work.

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Island Packers, Santa Barbara Adventure Company, Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara, Tidy Seas, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collaborated.