300 divers and on-land volunteers will scour Newport Harbor for trash

NEWPORT BEACH — Hundreds of scuba divers will swim along the bottom of Newport Harbor, on Saturday, June 1, looking for trash and other debris that shouldn’t be there.

The divers and dozens of on-land volunteers will target plastics, fishing line and other items that are dangerous to the environment and to sea life.

The event — Newport Harbor Underwater Clean — is focused on the area’s 25.2 miles of coastline, bay and harbor waterways. Now in its third year, it’s coordinated by local environmental groups known collectively as Help Your Harbor.

The groups typically meet once a month for clean-ups on local beaches. Last year, volunteers at the harbor clean-up hauled in more than 4,000 pounds of trash.

“We expect to double that this year,” said Caroline Rustigian Bruderer, a co-organizer of the event.

Some of the more unusual past finds include a holstered pistol; car engines; two women’s purses with IDs, cash and credit cards; Christmas trees; and an unopened champagne bottle with two flutes.

Volunteers also scooped up single-use plastic bottles and fishing line — both extremely hazardous to marine life. Already this year, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, has rescued multiple entangled sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals, several in and around Newport Harbor.

Areas hardest hit are the ones around public docks. Trash also gets to the harbor by flowing along the San Diego Creek that comes from inland Orange County and then flows into the Upper Back Bay. When the tide is high, it is carried into Newport Harbor and then out to the Pacific Ocean.

Last year, city officials announced plans for a water wheel. The wheel, the first of its kind along the West Coast, will scoop trash from the water as it flows into Upper Newport Bay.

In October, Newport Beach received a $1.7 million grant from the California Ocean Protection Council to fund the water wheel project. Funding will pay for permits, construction and installation of the wheel, which should be in place by 2020.

“Marine pollution destroys ocean habitats, endangers marine and coastal wildlife, causes navigation hazards and threatens human health and safety,” said Councilman Duffy Duffield, owner of Duffy Electric Boats, and co-founder of the clean-up effort.

Organizers are hopeful Saturday’s event will inspire the community to become better stewards of the environment.

“This event hopefully proves to the community just how much even a conscious area like south Orange County still has a problem with litter and it’s up to us all to help keep our water and beaches clean and pollution free,” Bruderer said.