Boughton Island clean up nets 800 buoys from shoreline

The shores of Boughton Island off the coast of eastern P.E.I. are a lot tidier thanks to a dozen people who spent their Saturday picking up about 800 buoys and other marine garbage that washed ashore up on the uninhabited island. 

The group, made up of three Nature Conservancy of Canada staff members and nine volunteers, kayaked to the island and got to work cleaning up the home of many birds, including the endangered piping plover.

It is a natural area and it's basically here for the wildlife.- Laurel Bernard

Laurel Bernard, director of stewardship for the NCC, said this is the third time they've cleaned up this island, the last time being four years ago.

"What we're doing today is basically cleaning up the beaches and preventing any of the garbage getting into the marine environment which can cause entanglement, or if the birds eat it the ingestion can actually cause problems as well," she said. 

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'Here for the birds'

Bernard said the organization bought half of the island and transferred it to the province, which has since put it under the P.E.I. Natural Area Protection Act.

"It is a natural area and it's basically here for the wildlife. People can still visit the island but it's basically here for the birds."

I'm covered in scratches, because I've been in tree-roots hauling out old buoys, mostly mussel buoys, like just literally hundreds of them, buried.- Barb Trainor

As the group paddled over to the island, they were greeted by a family of five bald eagles overhead.

"I'm covered in scratches, because I've been in tree roots hauling out old buoys, mostly mussel buoys, like just literally hundreds of them, buried," said Barb Trainor, a volunteer from Charlottetown. "We've been in amongst the roots, hauling [buoys] out, so I'm a bit dirty and a bit scratched up but otherwise intact."

Trainor said she kayaks often, including around Boughton Island, and she volunteered with a group of friends who paddle together.

"I'm retired so everyday is Saturday and I'm in the outdoors anyway, and you know, I'd probably be paddling somewhere so may as well be paddling here and working."

Need more help to keep the islands clean

Trainor said the NCC and Island Nature Trust do a great job preserving the islands, but she'd like to see more people get involved.

"It's not rocket science, it's a matter of coming and picking up what you feel shouldn't be here," she said. 

Bernard said many of the buoys will be picked up by a mussel farmer to be recycled.