For the first half of the day, we cleaned up the marine debris on the windward side of Middle Caye and then analyzed the composition of the trash. It turns out that 50% of the trash we collected was plastic by mass, 21% was styrofoam, 14% was rope, and 15% was other. However, we collected nearly the same volume of styrofoam as plastic, which was something I did not predict. We found many plastic bottles and bottle caps, as well as personal toiletries and medicine containers. The amount of Styrofoam was insane. A large majority of humans and our societies are built around consumption and waste, so much so that it doesn’t faze us anymore to throw something away. Ella brought up a good point today that though there are grassroots movements away from waste and towards reusable bags and recycling, people still don’t see the conflict in bringing a reusable bag to the grocery store and filling it up with water bottles and packaged foods.

After that project, we listened to lectures and then went to another backreef to measure a coral colony in three dimensions. I didn’t find it particularly fun, because the water was warm, the sky was cloudy, and there were a lot of sediments in the water. After dinner we went night snorkeling, which was again very cool. However, my mask kept fogging up and I felt claustrophobic in the water surrounded by people. We saw a slipper lobster, and two spiny lobsters, as well as several fish. The stony coral polyps were also extended on the Orbicella annularis and O. faveolata, species in which the polyps are usually retracted during the day.