The Green Review

Marine pollution has devastating impacts on both human and wildlife populations in coastal areas. Bliss Island is a small isle in the Back Bay region of New Brunswick, which has been greatly impacted by marine pollution, especially due to its remote location. While only a twenty-minute boat ride from mainland, nobody has permanently lived on the island since the lighthouse was decommissioned in the 1900s, meaning that the marine debris has been allowed to accumulate for years. To combat this problem, I partnered with Ocean Bridge and the New Brunswick Nature Trust to organize a two-day clean-up on the island and, on August 21^st, over 30 people hopped on boats and headed to the island for a weekend of coastal conservation!

The first hour spent on the island was a bustle of preparations, as volunteers hastened to set up their tents for the overnight stay, collect gloves and garbage bags, and then split off into groups; which travelled to 3 separate beaches. I personally headed to what had simply been dubbed “Front Beach.” As one of two beaches on the island easily accessible by boat, Front Beach became the home of our main trash pile which would be collected by the Nature Trust with large barge.

As I worked throughout the morning to sort the growing trash pile and add to it from the nearby shoreline, volunteers pulling carts loaded to the brim with debris from less accessible beaches. A camp owner on the island kindly volunteered the use of his four-wheeler, for transporting heavier items, and spent the day travelling to some of the further beaches, returning often with items like refrigerators, large buoys, and most notably, a 5-foot-tall letter A.

Though everyone remaining for the overnight portion of the event was tired, none of us wanted to waste our chance to explore the beautiful Bliss Island. With help, I packed a quick picnic and our group hiked to the lighthouse on the point of the island to lounge on the nearby sandy beach and watch the sun set. We returned to our tents as the night fog settled over the island and thus drifted to sleep with the haunting melody of the foghorn echoing in the distance.

After a hearty breakfast the next morning, our group packed up and retuned to the lighthouse, this time armed with garbage bags and gloves. While we worked, we took photos of any interesting flora and fauna managed to see the endangered monarch butterfly.

The feeling of accomplishment as we sailed away from the island later that day, boats loaden with bags of coastal debris, was indescribable. However, my favourite part of the weekend was seeing the smiles on youth volunteer faces and knowing that their understanding of the importance of marine conservation was growing as they helped to maintain the stunning coastal habitat around us.