Vero Beach (Daytona Beach, Cocoa, Keystone: 2015, contractors, campers)

[AJ67]

we too the day off on Friday and went to Vero Beach , although it was nice a quiet, i was appalued at the state of the beach...Not because of the sea weed and the numerous Portuguese Manowar ( which i find very Pretty to look at) but the amount of trash on this beach was discusting...
Things were washing up on the shore...I was getting scared i thought for sure there would be needles somewhere .. so we did not venture to far...the water was beautiful but full of trash!

[PLBR]

Originally Posted by AJ67

we too the day off on Friday and went to Vero Beach , although it was nice a quiet, i was appalued at the state of the beach...Not because of the sea weed and the numerous Portuguese Manowar ( which i find very Pretty to look at) but the amount of trash on this beach was discusting...
Things were washing up on the shore...I was getting scared i thought for sure there would be needles somewhere .. so we did not venture to far...the water was beautiful but full of trash!

Sadly this is the world we live in. Too much consumerism and disposables without at least trying to recycle most. The earth and oceans are looking like Dollar stores. We accept too much garbage shipped to our ports, and when things aren't sold, they still end up on our side of the world.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by PLBR

Sadly this is the world we live in. Too much consumerism and disposables without at least trying to recycle most. The earth and oceans are looking like Dollar stores. We accept too much garbage shipped to our ports, and when things aren't sold, they still end up on our side of the world.

You dug up a thread from 2007, and our beaches are impeccable.

[HarryWho?]

I was going to say I've been here since 2010 and the beaches have always been very clean. No trash whatever.

[SeaLark7]

Um, excuse me ? No trash whatsoever ? I take a bucket with me every time I beachcomb in Indian River County, and have no problem filling it with trash, especially when the seaweed is on shore. Some of it is left behind by tourists (cups, cans, straws, even dirty diapers occasionally) and some of it floats ashore. I almost ALWAYS find at least one deflated helium balloon, with strings. These are especially harmful to wildlife. The small bits of plastic are bad too, and the plastic bags. Turtles mistake them for food. Trust me, our beaches are NOT impeccable, and if you think they are, you haven't actually been to one for a while. I am not saying they are filled with trash, but to portray them as trash-free is not correct either.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by SeaLark7

Um, excuse me ? No trash whatsoever ? I take a bucket with me every time I beachcomb in Indian River County, and have no problem filling it with trash, especially when the seaweed is on shore. Some of it is left behind by tourists (cups, cans, straws, even dirty diapers occasionally) and some of it floats ashore. I almost ALWAYS find at least one deflated helium balloon, with strings. These are especially harmful to wildlife. The small bits of plastic are bad too, and the plastic bags. Turtles mistake them for food. Trust me, our beaches are NOT impeccable, and if you think they are, you haven't actually been to one for a while. I am not saying they are filled with trash, but to portray them as trash-free is not correct either.

I don't go to the beach all the time because I'm working. However, I've been there four times in the past month (high for me)...and didn't see a speck of trash.

I was at Humiston, Jaycee, South Beach and up towards the Disney Resort.

Then I remembered some controversy over the beach cleaning contractor and googled it but didn't find anything under Indian River County. So I tried Vero Beach.

THEN, these articles showed up from 2013 so I guess there's been intermittent issues with the contractors.

Ohmstede had the annual contract for years but was outbid in 2011 by Treasure Coast.

With either of them, beachgoers and residents had been happy with the city’s pristine beaches.

The same cannot be said for a Volusia County crew who a few months ago under-bid Treasure Coast by $17,514 a year.

From the moment they took over from Treasure Coast, the complaints about seaweed, trash and uneven sand on the beaches rolled in; the Volusia County crew evidently didn’t have the proper equipment to work on Vero’s soft sand.

No solution yet for Vero beach debris - VeroNews: Vero Beach Spotlight

Posted on Dec 20, 2013by Eileen Kelley

VERO BEACH — A Daytona contractor who won a low-ball bid from Vero for beach clean-up has thrown in the towel after numerous complaints from lifeguards and residents and the city is now begging the old contractors who wanted to charge more to come back and take over the job again.

To the people at South Beach Park, the efforts of the Daytona Beach cleaning crew looked like something right out of a Keystone Cops comedy, but residents were fuming more than they were laughing.

Beachgoers shook their heads when they saw beach-raking vehicles more suited to the hard-packed Daytona Beach sand get bogged down in the soft white sand of South Beach.

Vero Beach looking for new contractor to clean beaches - VeroNews: Vero Beach Government

Maybe we have different ideas of what "clean" means but I admit I was not looking for small bits of plastic.

I have to laugh that practically the entire STATE voted for Amendment One to FORCE the state into MANDATORY SPENDING on "conservation" by confiscating more and more property every year, yet the government bureaucrats can't even keep the beach maintained and clean, apparently.

[SeaLark7]

I am not saying the beaches are as bad as the original poster indicated several years ago, but trust me, there are more than small bits of plastic on the beaches, ESPECIALLY in areas of high traffic like Humiston and South Beach. I just walked between Riomar and South Beach yesterday and filled a 2 gallon bucket to the brim TWICE, with bottles, cans, plastic bags, candy wrappers, etc. - easily visible trash. Our beaches are no doubt cleaner than in some areas, but if you did not see "a speck of trash" then you weren't looking around very much. I will say that the dirtiest beach on the Treasure Coast, hands down, is the Jetty Park Beach at Ft Pierce Inlet, in St Lucie County. The tideline there can be downright filthy after a bunch of seaweed rolls in - LOTS of trash caught up in it. But as for Treasure Coast beaches, I can assure you, they are NOT "pristine" and sadly, probably never will be. I spend hours every month cleaning up other people's trash so animals won't be hurt by ingesting or getting entangled in them. Also, I have pulled more than one fish hook out of the sand, fishing line, even lures with nasty hooks in them - if you go barefoot on the beach near where fishing is done, watch where you walk. Actually look around the next time you go to the beach; I assure you, the trash is there (unless I or some other environmentally conscious person has just been there).

[runswithscissors]

The tideline there can be downright filthy after a bunch of seaweed rolls in - LOTS of trash caught up in it.

I didn't use the word "pristine" so no need to put it in quotes if you want to change what I said. I said IMPECCABLE and I stand by that word.

i DO not UNDERSTAND this complaint, though. HOW do you think it goes away? PEOPLE WORK THERE to clean it up. You're acting like the beaches are not cared for.

I can tell you're from Ohio if you think you can walk barefoot where people FISH.

I grew up in Florida AND the Jersey shore, so it's funny to me to see someone who just moved here from OHIO giving me lectures on fishing at the beach etc. How did we ever exist before Northeastern Liberals moving here to hand clean the beaches.

We grew UP IN SEAWEED. Seaweed and horseflies.

OK so I was at 77th this morning so went over the bridge to the beach.

NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF TRASH.

It was 10:45AM directly after high tide, hence the SEA WEED. You can see the sand is still wet and compact where the seaweed is.


Were you all over the coast this morning cleaning up and emptying all the TRASH CANS, too?

Wabasso Beach:











Jaycee Park:







Jaycee Beach:









Even the TRASH CANS had no trash.




Even the sea grasses were trash free.



Bathrooms? TRASH FREE






Even the area AROUND the trash and parking lot – yup NO trash.









Even around the restaurant – NO trash.

In fact the campers at the park were sitting around when I got there and I took this photo. THEN they started throwing all their trash out when the counselors announced time to clean up and go.



The only MESS was found on my windshield when I got back into my car so my trip to the other two beaches was cut off so I could go to the car wash.




LAST MONTH SOUTH BEACH May 17th to be exact

I happened to have documented that trip for another reason. LOL.












So yeah, IMO our beaches ARE IMPECCABLE.

And I am not discussing Ft Pierce where I ran into junkies on the beach or even "Treasure Coast" beaches whatever THAT means.

The OP specified VERO BEACH, that's what I'm addressing. And the surrounding MSA.

[runswithscissors]

Sorry I'm still laughing at the visual of the beach contractors saying "Wait, don't start yet till that lady is finished cleaning up ahead.".

[runswithscissors]

Seaweed blankets beaches along Brevard

Experts say sustained offshore winds combined with seasonal shifts in the Gulf Stream probably are responsible for the sudden abundance of local beaches.

Most of the so-called "wrack line" is Sargassum algae, which drifts near the Gulf Stream and provides vital food for young sea turtles. On the beach, the algae serves as fodder for crabs, beetles and other small creatures, which in turn are food for shorebirds.

The wrack line is also important for collecting wind-blown sand and encouraging plants, which help hold dunes in place to protect property.

The weeds are a constant presence in the Atlantic. Experts say sustained offshore winds combined with seasonal shifts in the Gulf Stream probably are responsible for the sudden abundance of local beaches.

"They're saying a lot of seaweed and other stuff has been washing up on the beach as of yesterday," said Jeff Scabarozi, ocean rescue chief for Brevard County. "It's pretty bad out there."

Local governments generally rake beaches for litter, avoiding the wrack line.

"We try to educate the people about it," said Bob Torres, Cocoa Beach Public Works director. "I've been to other beaches that are raked. To me, they almost look sterile."

While unsightly and smelly for a few days, the benefits outweigh those drawbacks, Torres said