Shopping carts, an electric foot massager, a PlayStation, several outboard engines, and a floor lamp are among the many items found amid two tons of marine debris pulled last week from Richardson Bay in southern Marin County.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Keith Merkel, principal ecologist leading the project with the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, a local government agency dedicated to maintaining and improving Richardson Bay. “We have had divers working in the water here for years as part of our eelgrass restoration efforts, and we’ve seen that the Bay floor is littered in this kind of debris.”
The cleanup included 300 acres of the 700-acre Richardson Bay Eelgrass Protection Zone, which the RBRA designated in October. Eelgrass supports migratory fish, reduces erosion caused by storms, and sequesters carbon. It is a crucial part of the food chain for harbor porpoises and sea lions…