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The Dockmaster and I decided that it was time for someone to pick up all the trash under the docks at the Block Island Boat Basin, where we tie up the Safe/Sea Block Island all summer. 
We filled two wheelbarrows with junk that we harvested from under just “A” dock, one of the four main docks here. The cell phone on the left is mine; I dropped it about 3 weeks ago.
Found this yesterday while on route to a job. I stopped, took a quick photo, pulled them in with my boat hook, dispatched the ballons with a sharp knife, and tossed the carcasses in my trash bag.
This kind of crap is deadly to a sea turtle, who can mistake a ballon for a jellyfish, which are part of the turtle’s normal diet. Floating debris is hazardous to many seabirds and other aquatic life.
Over the years, I’ve passed lots of ballons out there. For the most part, I have just driven by, thinking myself too busy to stop and pick them up. From now on, I will make an effort to remove ballons from the ocean whenever I can.
For more information on the floating trash problem, see
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/
http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/oceans/debris/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070423-ocean-plastic.html
