Paddle Out Plastic

Paddle Out Plastic Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Paddle Out Plastic, Environmental conservation organisation, Long Beach, CA.

Paddle Out Plastic is picking up litter in aquatic environments, documenting what we find, sharing info and photos to inform and encourage reduction of single use plastic.

The before and after photos in one spot near the Cabrillo Marina jetty, the lady paddlers, and the collection after coun...
06/02/2026

The before and after photos in one spot near the Cabrillo Marina jetty, the lady paddlers, and the collection after counting and sorting (1,030 pieces, half of which was food wrappers and soft plastic film fragments).

It's difficult to convey how much fishing line we retrieved from the water in LA Harbor today. And this was without goin...
06/01/2026

It's difficult to convey how much fishing line we retrieved from the water in LA Harbor today. And this was without going under the fishing pier where we consistently find line caught up in the pier infrastructure and often with dead, dangling birds attached. We found it in a few other places, including near the Cabrillo Marina Jetty. Jessie first spotted that one and began pulling it out from the rocks, only to find that it kept going and going. Eva began pulling from the water, then Ken joined in and pulled up two fishing rods with reels full of fishing line.
At the fishing pier, we were turned away. We always give fishers a wide berth, explaining to them what we are doing and making every effort to avoid their lines. Ordinarily the fishers there express appreciation that we're pulling out trash and lost line that traps unintended wildlife. On this day a fisher told us to get away, actually tossed his line at us and told us we were scaring away the fish. There was no convincing him that we wouldn't interfere with his fishing if we could just get under the pier to do what we came there for. We turned away.
The sea lion seen on Buoy 11 yesterday with fishing line wound tightly around its neck was there still today.

Look what I found in LA Harbor. I paddled out this morning to check on a possible sea lion entanglement, not intending t...
05/30/2026

Look what I found in LA Harbor. I paddled out this morning to check on a possible sea lion entanglement, not intending to clean up since we'll be going out on a group paddle tomorrow morning here, but I couldn't pass up a couple of big pieces of foam that seem to be from a boogie board, because the longer they are in the water, the more microplastics break off to pollute the water forever.
I did find the sea lion with fishing line wound tightly around its neck and sent in a report. Hopefully Marine Mammal Care Center Rescue team will be able to help. A sad reminder of the harm that lost fishing line and other plastic pollution can do.

Reminder to sign up at our website to receive email notification of group paddles. Email notification already went out f...
05/29/2026

Reminder to sign up at our website to receive email notification of group paddles. Email notification already went out for a paddle this Sunday but it's not too late to get in on it. ⏰
www.paddleoutplastic.org

05/27/2026

You'll find Paddle Out Plastic among the list of participants in the Report available via the link below, and you'll also find that we contributed photos to the Report from our work in LA Harbor, Alamitos Bay and Los Cerritos Channel at pages 13, 24, 49, 56, 58 and 73. And, some of our volunteers may be interested to see photos of themselves on the water at pages 13 and 24.

The link is to the Accomplishments Report of the California Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy, which was published by the Ocean Protection Council, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, California Sea Grant, and the University of Southern California Sea Grant. The Strategy set up a number of goals to address ocean litter and plastic pollution and working groups met regularly to discuss progress implementing specific tasks toward achieving those goals. The Report reflects the work done by participants over the 2018-2025 time period. You might find it interesting. At the very least, the Report shows the enormous amount of attention and efforts being put toward the problem of plastic pollution by non-profit environmental groups as well as government agencies and even some innovative enterprises.

While it may seem sometimes that we're spinning our wheels, or more aptly paddling upstream against a strong current, and not making progress toward reducing the sources of this enormous pollution problem, Appendices A and B list legislation passed at local and state levels that hopefully will bear results over time.

For Biodiversity Day, we want to show just some of the many species we’ve seen while paddling, as a reminder of the wide...
05/22/2026

For Biodiversity Day, we want to show just some of the many species we’ve seen while paddling, as a reminder of the wide diversity of wildlife potentially impacted by the prevalence of plastic pollution and other marine debris we work to remove. See more of this biodiversity on our website at paddleoutplastic.org under the heading IMPACT.
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The good news: the trash buildup off of Los Cerritos Channel reported on a couple of weeks ago has been cleaned up by AE...
05/21/2026

The good news: the trash buildup off of Los Cerritos Channel reported on a couple of weeks ago has been cleaned up by AES, the power plant that takes in water from the channel to cool its system and in the process sucks litter coming down the channel.

The bad news: some litter is still trapped where the crane and bucket used to extract the litter couldn't reach. We removed a large sheet of foam fabric and some styrofoam chunks, foodware and bags, but there is more there that will degrade further if left. If anybody is padding in the area and wants a challenge, please let us know if you're able to get to it.

Other bad news: On the way to check out the status of the intake zone, we passed a big black bag of (presumably) trash. It was heavy and unwieldy. We called it in to the Long Beach Marine Bureau telling them the location, but by the time we were heading back it had drifted up the channel with the incoming tide and was lodged by the Los Cerritos Wetlands. We're still hoping somebody got over there to pick it up.

We not only pulled out a Sparkletts jug but also a backpack sprayer, the latter a first for us, and miscellaneous other trash for a total 465 pieces. And we already posted about the tosser we came upon on this paddle.

05/19/2026

Man tossing his belongings into Los Cerritos Channel. When he left you can see some of what he tossed. Paddle Out Plastic was able to get the Sparklets 5 gallon jug but had to leave behind Rubbermaid bins and other stuff that is now more

Our paddle in King Harbor Saturday was all about the hunt for lost fishing line, hooks and lures. Hard to see and harder...
05/17/2026

Our paddle in King Harbor Saturday was all about the hunt for lost fishing line, hooks and lures. Hard to see and harder to grab, Gwen and Ken found a lot and got it out! Plus we grabbed some plastic bags and about 230 other little pieces of trash scattered here and there in the water. Happily, we didn't find any wildlife entanglements on this day.

We attended a press conference at the Aquarium of the Pacific this morning. It was to announce a collaboration among sev...
05/14/2026

We attended a press conference at the Aquarium of the Pacific this morning. It was to announce a collaboration among several jurisdictions, including County of LA, Orange County, Seal Beach, Long Beach and more to install The Ocean Cleanup system at the LA River and the San Gabriel River to capture trash that is a regional issue. The Ocean Cleanup is operating in Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey and has been very well received and very successful. We are fans of ocean cleanup AND reduction in waste, in particular single-use plastic waste.

Address

Long Beach, CA
90801–90810, 90813–90815, 90822, 90831–90835, 90840, 90842, 90844, 90846

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