This brings to mind an article or articles I read on ships’ cargoes that had been lost at sea; one consisted of an ungodly number of rubber duckies that washed up on shores from South America to Alaska; another dumped tens of thousands of flip-flops into the Pacific and yet another had hundreds of thousands of Lego people infesting the beaches along with the hypodermics needles on the eastern seaboard.
Anyone have any info or a web site on this? It made for extremely interesting reading on ocean currents and message-in-a-bottle legends.
Papabear, the correct term for marine debris is more complex than that
“Flotsam refers to things found floating after a ship has perished. Jetsam refers to things thrown overboard to lighten a ship. Ligan (lagan) refers to things thrown overboard with a buoy to mark where they are. Wreck refers to an abandoned vessel or part of a vessel which is still afloat, stranded or aground.” (admiraltyLaw.com glossary)
Stuff that fell overboard, or was tossed over without necessity does not fall into any of these categories. May I suggest “litter”?
I was just visiting my little brother in San Francisco. He’s a volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalto, across the bridge from SF. He showed me an e-mail he received from Cecil’s assistant Jane researching this very column. He wrote back to her saying, for the big mammals they are responsible for saving, fishing line is more of a problem, but referred her to a bird rescue group. I’m very proud of him! Too bad he didn’t get cited though.
BTW, he found a six-pack ring on the beach and cut it up anyway.
I tried to set some 6-pack rings to catch the raccoons who were plaguing my back yard, but they drank the beer and left the rings, so it failed.
On the other hand, I can also attest that the 6-pack rings were useless – absolutely useless! – in my attempt to catch and kill the slugs in the garden.
Nothing can trap an averagely bright raccoon. Just yesterday my editor was telling me about a note the copyeditor put on my latest manuscript: A raccoon somehow gained entry into her kitchen one night, removed the top from a cookie jar, ate all the cookies, and replaced the lid before leaving via a heating vent–and then pulled the heating vent cover back into place, removing traces of entry! All this was watched by the bemused copyeditor from a darkened room next door.
Are we talking about “trap” in the broad sense? In that case, there’s always the possibility of ambush. Sure you’ll never catch the raccoon with a passive snare. Try something that you can spring – a net made of six-pack rings operated by remote control. While the cute fuzzy sucker is struggling and confused, weigh him down with some Remington 00 buckshot. BLAM! Instant coonskin cap, complete with vent holes.
I was really hoping that this column would have made my life easier. My mother-in-law is an obssesive ring-cutter who invokes the image of choking sea turtles with every snip. It meant little to her that we live in a completely land-locked part of the country and our garbage is processed at a local land-fill. To her, each mutilated drink ring meant another turtle saved.
On showing her your column, she has changed her save-the-world philosophy slightly. She now cuts the plastic up to save the gulls at the dump.
In response to CKDextHavn’s attempts to kill his garden slugs:
I am in no way advocating the killing of garden slugs! However if you must do so, the most pleasant-sounding way I know of is to leave bowls of beer in the garden. The slugs will come and drink the beer until they become so inebriated that they fall into the bowls and drown.
(Of course, you mustn’t forget to cut up the six-pack rings from the beer before discarding them.)
For those who may have forgotten this memorable column, here is Unca Cece’s take on slugs, salt, beer, and geoducks (read the article to understand) http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_073.html
