By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Staff Writer

Some staff members of Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada plan to don work gloves, long pants and sun hats to join hundreds of others collecting trash along U.S. Highway 1 and ocean and bayside beaches on Sept. 19.

The Florida Keys Scenic Corridor Alliance has partnered with the Ocean Conservancy for the 30th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup– a one-day effort that last year attracted 560,000 volunteers in 91 countries who picked up more than 16 million pounds of trash.

For this year’s cleanup, teams will fan out along the entire 110-mile U.S. 1 corridor and adjacent beaches from Key Largo to Key West, clearing roadsides and waterfronts of trash and debris.  Some employees of the Islander are expected to join a team organized by the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce cleaning the area from Tavernier Creek Bridge to the Channel 5 Bridge including Sea Oats Beach, Anne’s Beach, and Indian Key Fills.  If you would like to help, call or email Judy Hull, executive director of the Islamorada chamber at 305-664-4503/director@islamoradachamber.com.

Discarded plastic items — flip-flops, water bottles, bags, and popped balloons–are a serious environmental and ecological problem worldwide, with more than seven million tons ending up in the world’s oceans.  Not just an eyesore, they sicken and kill sea birds and marine mammals.

For more information about the Coastal Cleanup, visit the Ocean Conservancy’s web site!

Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/.  For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing.  She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.