Researchers in Texas who survey the coasts for sea life and often stare down a creepy doll with barnacles for eyes have auctioned off hundreds of items they find to help fund the rehabilitation of sea turtles and birds.
For 15 years, the Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Institute has sold off some of their best finds along a 40-mile stretch of beach to raise funds for the Amos Rehabilitation Keep. Last year, the auction brought in around $3,000, reports the Houston Chronicle’s Ariana Garcia.
On Texas’ coastal bend, from North Padre Island to Matagorda Island, researchers typically find 10 times the amount of trash they see on other other Gulf of Mexico beaches, Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Institute, told the Star-Telegram last year.
Tunnell said the disproportionate amount of trash is caused by a “loop current” that extends from the Yucatan Peninsula to Florida and pushes debris toward the Texas Gulf.
PreviouslyCreepy dolls covered in barnacles or missing their limbs keep washing up on Texas beaches
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