by Mary Knippel

Charlise Heiser. Photo: Mary Knippel.

Pacifica resident Charlise Heiser has spent a lifetime at the beach — fishing, beachcombing, surfing, swimming and tirelessly picking up trash. She encourages the rest of us to pick up after ourselves as well.

A coin toss brought her parents from the Midwest to California where her father had dreams of becoming a commercial fisherman. “My mother became a fisherman by default,” Heiser said.

“From infancy on I’ve been associated with the water,” she said. “A tale is told in the family that I was still in diapers when my parents propped me up against a rock and went fishing. That supposedly was my first experience.”

Shelter Cove, a 17-acre site at the edge of the Pacific, was owned by Heiser’s family at one time; it provided Heiser’s first real involvement in cleaning the beach, along with policing the quarter-mile private road. “It was 1948,” she said, “and my parents charged 50 cents per car at Shelter Cove. Every weekend we [Heiser and her younger sister] collected all the trash and things that people had thrown away. I got very early training about that law of ‘what you bring into a place, you should take out.’ … I never go down to the beach without stopping to pick something up.”

Individuals such as Heiser set an example for the rest of the Coastside, demonstrating how we all can help preserve our coastal environment. And organizations such as the Pacifica Beach Coalition, Save Our Shores, and the California Coastal Commission strive to increase public knowledge of environmental issues and engage the public in coastal protection and restoration activities.

Over 800,000 Californians have removed more than 13 million pounds  of debris from our state’s shorelines and coasts on the third Saturday of September since the California Coastal Cleanup Day was initiated. Organized in 1985 by the California Coastal Commission, the event is recognized as a vital service to the environment, and the 1993 Guinness Book of World Records listed it as the largest garbage collection ever organized.

Rockaway Beach, Pacifica. Staff photo.

According to the California Coastal Commission, “data tell us that most (between 60-80 percent) of the debris on our beaches and shorelines comes from inland sources, traveling through storm drains or creeks out to the beaches and ocean. Rain — or even something as simple as hosing down a sidewalk — can wash cigarette butts, bits of Styrofoam, pesticides and oil into the storm drains and out to the ocean.”

Adopt-A-Beach is a year round program of the California Coastal Commission. Your company, team, club or school group can officially adopt a beach by agreeing to clean   that beach three times a year.

The next time you head out to  the beach, consider Heiser’s advice. “Tread lightly wherever you go,” she said. “Be responsible and knowledgeable in the area you live.”

Ocean Conservancy reports the following results from the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup:

Of the 43 items tracked during the cleanup, the top three items of trash found were cigarette butts, plastic bags, and food wrappers and containers.

The total weight of garbage collected — 3,402 tons — matches the weight of 18 blue whales.

Volunteers rounded up 26,585 tires — enough for 6,646 cars,  and one spare!

Volunteers found 509,593 straws and stirrers, which when stacked end-to-end would be nearly 12 times the height of Mount Everest.

Volunteers also found 443 entangled animals; of these, 288 were found alive and released. Fishing-related items like line and nets  accounted for 69 percent of the entanglements, but other sources included six-pack rings and plastic bags.