Dear Editor,
In response to Judy Abel’s August 4th article, Malibu Shores Drown in Litter, MRCA stewards its coastal properties daily and in some high use areas such as Lechuza Beach, Carbon La Costa Beach, and Escondido Canyon Park, twice daily during the high use visitor season (typically Memorial Day to Labor Day). We post photos of our daily beach stewardship at mrca.ca.gov/coastal-access/, and MRCA always answers inquiries to the contact person listed on its coastal access page.
Marine debris, such as microplastic, is a challenging societal and environmental issue; “marine debris” is much more descriptive of this problem than “trash” or “litter,” as the debris often originates offshore from where we find it deposited on our beaches.
For more information, see: marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html, nationalgeographic.com/science/article/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastics-environment
https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-garbage-patch-plastic-20180322-story.html
Beaches are notorious receptacles of debris that is left from individuals’ lack of responsibility (dog waste to beer bottles) as well as waste from off-site deposited with the tides from the waste stream that our society(ies) use the ocean for. Despite diligent stewardship efforts, our beaches are impossible to keep clean for many reasons, most well beyond any land manager’s control. We reach out to all of our beach and park users to help us with this problem, and we are grateful for every resident’s and visitor’s contribution to that end.
We encourage all of us to do our best toward keeping the beach clean under all circumstances irrespective of where the debris comes from, to pack it in, pack it out; to responsibly use debris receptacles; and to fully participate in the stewardship of the coastal spaces you enjoy to keep them clean.
Elena Eger, Unincorporated Los Angeles County