If enough people go online and vote, it could lead to a grant that would help keep the waterways clean in Beaufort County and improve awareness about marine debris.
The Beaufort Soil &amp; Water Conservation District, the SC Sea Grant Consortium and other Beaufort County partners hope to obtain funds from the Clean Marine Project for a public education campaign and a debris disposal event.
Local officials hope citizens will visit www.boatus.com and click on ‘grassroots grants’ under ‘BoatUS Foundation’ at the bottom of the home page. They should select the ‘vote here’ option on the left and then ‘Beaufort County Clean Marine.’ They can bookmark the page and vote as often as once a day. Voting began March 1 and ends March 15.
If the project is funded, the Conservation District will work with local and state government bodies, non-profit groups and boating and fishing organizations to develop the educational materials and resources and conduct a countywide Clean Marine disposal event. This would include coordinating community action through a month-long, citizen-involved, science-reporting effort to collect data on large marine debris items in the waterways of Beaufort County.
Those who wish to keep track of the voting and other activities related to the project may ‘like’ the BoatUS Foundation Facebook page and Clean Marine Beaufort, also on Facebook.
For more information, call 255-2745.