How has the BEACH Act improved Suffolk County’s beach monitoring program?
In addition to facilitating the development of a monitoring and notification plan, BEACH Act grant funding has enabled the Department’s Office of Ecology to significantly increase the number of beaches monitored and the frequency of sampling. As a result, the total number of samples collected has increased from a total of 444 samples from 71 beaches in 2002, to 4,160 samples from 184 beaches in 2006. Return to the top of the page Floatable Wash-ups What are floatable wash-ups? Strandings of floatable marine debris on Suffolk County shorelines, particularly on south shore ocean beaches in the western portion of the county, have been an occasional occurrence for many years. Floatables consist of a variety of materials that float on or just below the water surface, including numerous plastics (bottles, cups, bags, caps, etc.), pieces of Styrofoam, cigarette filters, paper, aluminum foil, wood, and tar balls. Medically related items such as syringes generally make up a very small percentag
