Robin Serne, a new member of the Rising Tide Explorers team recently finished a months long marine debris survey on the beaches of North Carolina. Robin walked eight blocks on the high tide line of the beach three times per week, for nine weeks, as a part of a Citizen Science project.
She has been interested beach trash’s effects on wildlife for quite a while – sparked by her experiences working at a wildlife hospital helping birds and animals who had eaten plastics or become hopelessly entangled in fishing line and hooks.
Despite having been an avid beach trash collector for years, the results of her study surprised her!
