This past Saturday, I attended Suncoast Aqua Venture’s large-scale cleanup of Bowlees Creek, a 4.8-mile stream in Manatee County just north of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
This body of water is located within the Sarasota Bay watershed and drains a large area of Sarasota and Manatee counties.
The event, in partnership with Keep Manatee Beautiful and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, was headquartered at the Bahia Mar West Marina and hosted by owners Willy and Aubry Petrat. Other partners included Suncoast Waterkeeper, Sarasota Bay Watch and Oyster River Ecology.
The marina is a unique location on Sarasota Bay that has private and public slips (first come, first served), a large tiki hut and many other amenities. The area of the cleanup included upstream within U.S. Highway 301 and State Road 70 boundaries, and downstream to the mouth of Sarasota Bay, including Bowlees Island.
Cheryl Huntsinger, vice president of Suncoast Aqua Ventures, said, “A major goal of today’s event was to get trash from upstream areas before it made it to the creek flowing downstream into Sarasota Bay.”
During the event, over 70 volunteers used pontoon boats, kayaks, paddleboards and small jon boats and collected over 1,600 pounds of debris The event was well-timed after recent rains. Following the cleanup, Suncoast Aqua Ventures and Bahia Mar West Marina held a cookout at the marina’s tiki hut.
Suncoast Aqua Ventures was created by a handful of friends in 2016 who were concerned about trash and debris in our waterways. They created a one-of-a-kind competitive event called The Reef & Beach Cleanup and gave cash and prizes in numerous categories to teams who competed. They structure all activities to be fun, family-friendly events. To date, their events have collected over 100,000 pounds of marine debris from our waterways. Their volunteers come from all ages and all walks of life and include water enthusiasts, kayakers, fishermen, scuba divers and anyone who has a passion for our beautiful aquatic ecosystem.
Their next event will be a cleanup of Perico Bayou and northern Palma Sola Bay, one of my favorite locations and close to Anna Maria Island. I encourage readers to sign up and participate in one of these events. You’ll make new friends, be surrounded by like-minded volunteers and go away knowing you left our local waters better than you found them.
For information on the upcoming Perico Bayou cleanup, visit the Suncoast Aqua Ventures website. Watch the video here.
