Join us for our monthly beach cleanup at Hampton Beach! These cleanups will be on the first Saturday of every month at Hampton Beach from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, except for January, when we will hold the cleanup on New Year’s Day, January 1.
Registration is required – click here to register. These cleanups are fun for all ages, and we hope you can join us!
Saturday, December 2, join us at our Blue Ocean Discovery Center (180 Ocean Blvd) for a pop-up holiday shop featuring eco-friendly gifts such as whale adoptions and Blue Ocean Society apparel!
Public Beach Cleanup Details
- We will meet at the Seashell Stage at 10:00 am
- We collect data at all beach cleanups, which contributes to our marine debris research.
- Please bring gloves. Gardening gloves, thin winter gloves, and outdoor work gloves all work well. We aim to avoid disposable plastic gloves to limit our contributions to pollution from single-use plastic products.
- We recommend wearing layers and comfortable shoes. The temperature on the coast can be 10-15 degrees cooler than inland.
- Please register for the cleanup so we can have enough supplies for everyone.
Brief History of our Beach Cleanups
We’ve been conducting beach cleanups at Blue Ocean since 2001 and have collected over 195,000 pounds of debris from local beaches around the seacoast area. At the end of every season, we compile all our data and make a fact sheet that includes the total weight and number of debris items, top items collected, pounds of trash per town, and more. In 2022, we conducted 510 cleanups with the help of 3,444 volunteers! Over 175,000 items were collected and tallied, weighing in at 6,779 pounds.
Why Are Beach Cleanups Important?
Even with carry-in, carry-out regulations and garbage bins near the beach, trash still makes its way to the beach. Trash can make its way to the beach from littering, or it may be carried by wind and rain. One study estimated that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. That is a crazy statistic if it becomes true! One 2014 study estimated that a minimum of 5.25 trillion pieces of debris, weighing 268,940 tons, are floating in the ocean. Surprisingly, in that same study, 75.4% of those 5.25 trillion pieces are considered macroplastics (>200 mm), whereas 13.2% fit into the microplastic category (0.33–4.75 mm.).
Impacts of Litter on Marine Life
Fish and other marine organisms can ingest these plastics, which may be fatal. Even though they are small, microplastics can have impacts. Plastics can bioaccumulate within the animal, with chemicals building up over time, causing harm. By cleaning up the beach, you’re protecting marine life from the harmful impacts of litter.
Click below to sign up now and join us on the beach this winter!
- Sign Up Now for the Cleanup!
- Can’t Attend this Cleanup? Book a Cleanup for Your Group or do a DIY Cleanup
December 2 – Beach Cleanup and Holiday Shop at Hampton Beach!
This fall, Ocean Conservancy is celebrating its 41st annual International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC), once again bringing together volunteers to protect the beaches and waterways we all love. Ocean Conservancy recently hosted flagship events in Long Beach and Washington, D.C. that celebrated this global movement close to home.
Over the past four decades, nearly 20 million volunteers have rolled up their sleeves to remove more than 405 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways around the world. And their impact extends far beyond what they collect. ICC volunteers have documented nearly 440 million individual items, creating the world’s largest marine debris database and providing invaluable information that helps Ocean Conservancy and others better understand—and tackle—ocean plastic pollution.
This year’s celebration continued that incredible legacy. At Alamitos Beach in Southern California, more than 150 volunteers gathered on September 19 and removed 1,109 pounds of trash, alongside members of Team USA Artistic Swimming and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In Washington, D.C., 439 volunteers gathered on September 26 to remove 2,182 pounds of trash from Anacostia Park along the Anacostia River.
“I am so grateful to all of the volunteers who came out today for our ocean—and every volunteer who has made the last 41 years of impact possible,” said Ocean Conservancy’s Senior Director of Conservation Cleanups, Allison Schutes. “Every piece of plastic collected helps protect marine animals and habitats and contributes to research and advocacy.”
And the impact doesn’t stop when the cleanup ends. During International Coastal Cleanup events, volunteers do more than remove trash: They document what they find, helping build a clearer picture of the plastic pollution threatening our waterways and wildlife. Through the Clean Swell® app or paper data sheets, ICC volunteers contribute to Ocean Conservancy’s online, open-access database, the world’s largest repository of marine debris data. These records help scientists, conservation groups and governments understand pollution trends and identify solutions.
That data can also drive meaningful policy change. ICC data were recently used in a peer-reviewed study showing that plastic bag bans lead to reduced plastic bag pollution. The data have also helped advance policies ranging from California’s SB 54 to Florida’s balloon release ban and the federal Farewell to Foam Act. From a neighborhood cleanup to statewide action, every piece of documented trash helps build the evidence needed to tackle plastic pollution at its source.
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Want to get involved?
Whether you join a local cleanup, record the trash you find using the Clean Swell app, or take action to reduce plastic pollution, you can be part of this incredible collective effort to protect our ocean. Here are a few ways to make an impact:
- Find a cleanup near you.
- Download our Clean Swell app to easily record the trash you collect.
- Take action to reduce plastic pollution.
- Explore our Wildlife Impact Calculator to estimate the potential benefits of your cleanup for marine wildlife.
- Donate today to Ocean Conservancy to help us fight plastic pollution for years to come!
The post Celebrating 41 Years of the International Coastal Cleanup® appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
For generations, stories of people being swallowed by enormous sea creatures have painted awe-inspiring tales of human survival and perseverance. From the biblical account of Jonah to the legendary battle of Hercules and Cetus to the timeless story of Pinocchio, these legendary tales have captivated people since time immemorial.
But all these stories raise the question: Could someone really be swallowed by a whale? With the premiere of the film Whalefall on October 16, 2026, you may find yourself in conversations about this very situation. Based on the bestselling 2023 thriller authored by Daniel Kraus, the film tells the story of a scuba diver who is accidentally gobbled up by a sperm whale while searching for the remains of his late father. With only an hour of oxygen left in his tank, the diver must fight to escape the whale’s gut before time runs out.
The answer to whether it’s anatomically possible for a whale to swallow a person is actually a bit more complicated than you might think.