Dirty South Bay
BY: ANNA GOOLSBY

Imagine surfing in the ocean, catching a killer wave, then jumping off your board only to land in an oil pool, collection of Styrofoam cups, or a grocery bag from the local market. Not only does “the moment” from catching a nice wave come to a halt, a feeling of disgust has taken over when you realize you are in a beautiful ocean full of waste.

“Manhattan Beach has tar all over the place and stepping on it is so annoying and putting out more trash cans on the beach can help the ocean, Chelsey Yonemoto, undecided major, said.

Hundreds of surfers, ocean swimmers, and sea creatures are affected by the filth in the South Bay daily. Sea Turtles eat plastic bags thinking they are jelly fish, seabirds become entangled by fishing line left by people who don’t care, and many fish eat six-pack rings thinking they are food. Humans are affected by trash and debris as much as animals. Surfers have been known to catch ear viruses, sinus infections, typhoid, and even E. coli.

“I eat a lot of fish and I like to spearfish, but I am definitely afraid to eat some of the fish I catch. I don’t want to be eating mercury that fish have gotten from used batteries being thrown in the ocean,” Ronald Caughlyn, undecided major, said.

The ocean is supposed to be this miraculous crystal blue water that people can not wait until summer to jump into. Instead, vast majority of the South Bay is viewed as a basin of bacteria, viruses, and potentially dead fish.

There are beyond several contributions that can be done to help the one ocean that makes up 70 percent of our Earth. Some acts, like helping in a beach cleanup require more effort than switching from plastic to paper bags in the grocery store or actually disposing of waste properly.

When someone has a laptop or cell phone to dispose of, do not just throw it in the garbage bin closest to you, but take the 20 minutes to drive to a Best Buy or Goodwill. If changing the oil of a car, do not throw the used oil on the streets or in the sewer, take it in a container to any car dealership or professional mechanic.

“Better filtration systems on storm drains and sewers would help a lot. When it rains heavily the sewers back up, which overflow into the storm drains that lead into the ocean, that I have to surf in,” Caughlyn said.

It makes it hard to live in a place where people do not care about what they are doing to the planet and the ocean. A good portion of our seafood comes from the ocean that people care little about. Consumers are not apt to eat fish that swallowed a cigarette butt or battery acid.

If only people put in the same amount of effort to save the South Bay that they do to make sure they catch their favorite TV show. Or if the city put in as much money to help the ocean as they do into creating jail space, then would the ocean seem more enticing of a place to be.

“Maybe if there were more ashtrays out in the streets, people wouldn’t just throw their cigarette butts in the street. But then again, many people don’t even care,” Brett Rinehart, undecided major, said.