TAMPA, Fla. — The community came together for a cleanup in Tampa on Sunday for World Oceans Day.
“We’ve involved the community. We’ve invited SCUBAnauts to join us as well,” said Karen Benson, the Coordinator of Dive Volunteers at the Florida Aquarium. “We’re going to get out there and find all the trash we can.”
Volunteers and staff from the Florida Aquarium came together for the conservation effort, working on land and in the water, at Seaplane Basin Park on Davis Islands.
WATCH NOW: Community helps clean up Davis Islands for World Oceans Day
“We did the channel once, and we pulled out tons of beads,” said Doug Phares, a volunteer diver with the Florida Aquarium. “We have, in the past, pulled out stoves and appliances that have fallen off of boats when people are doing work. The best thing I’ve ever found was an electric bike.”
Phares shared how he works through low visibility to pick up debris.
“You do a whole lot of getting very close to the bottom and use your hands and your eyes to look for objects that are not natural shapes, so if things are squares, angles, straight lines, anything nature doesn’t make, you try to find it,” said Phares. “Then you pick it up, take it out of the silt, put it in your bag, and keep moving to the next one.”
Divers, kayakers, and people on foot worked meticulously to collect any trash they spotted along the way.
“It’s something everybody should be interested in,” said Madison Wurthner, a diver with SCUBAnauts. “Whether they’re interested in the economy, tourism, or just being outside, it affects everybody.”
Advocates want people to know you can make a difference too, every day, to help keep our shorelines and waterways clean.
“Whenever you’re at the beaches or you’re walking around in your communities, teach other people, like hey I’m going to pick this up and tell them why you’re picking it up,” said Benson. “We can all make a difference in making our planet blue longer.”
“You know, it might just be time we take a look if HOAs are really even necessary.
Maybe we should just do away with homeowner associations as a whole.”
South Florida lawmaker Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) says it may be time to do away with homeowners associations altogether, as more Floridians speak out about rising fees, costly lawsuits, and even arrests tied to HOA disputes. He said this week that he is considering filing legislation in the next session that would abolish HOAs statewide.
