On Thursday, May 29th, 2025, twenty-four volunteers joined representatives from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Island Packers, Santa Barbara Adventure Company, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to clear approximately1,400 pounds of trash and fishing gear from Yellowbanks, a stretch of cobble beach on the south side of Santa Cruz Island, and Driftwood Cove on Anacapa Island.
During the day-long cleanup effort, the group spent the morning removing old fishing gear from Santa Cruz Island before moving on to Anacapa Island, where they collected an assortment of trash items, including drink bottles, balls, shoes, Styrofoam, and other plastics. They ferried all of the debris from shore using kayaks and a skiff and loaded it onto a boat that brought it back to the mainland for proper disposal.
Debris from land-based sources is a significant source of marine debris in the Channel Islands. In the Santa Barbara Channel, trash from the mainland is carried out from shore into coastal waters and beyond. Lost fishing gear and trash from marine sources are also transported by currents. Some of this debris washes up on the remote shores of the Channel Islands, while other persists in the Pacific Ocean.
“We look forward to these annual cleanups and the opportunity that these events provide by bringing our partners and volunteers together for a productive and meaningful day of service in a very special place,” says Channelkeeper’s science and program manager Molly Troup. “We hope that these events inspire community members to continue to elevate the plastic crisis and push for meaningful change.”
Michaela Miller, Sr. Conservation Manager for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, said, “Removing marine debris from the shorelines of Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is important to the local community, and this debris removal effort is the result of expert coordination and teamwork among multiple partner organizations. We are proud to steward these waters alongside our partners to remove marine debris from these beaches and fragile ecosystems.”
This is the sixth year of collaborative cleanups at the Channel Islands for the group. 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 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program.