Make sure your aim is true when you get ready to launch some beads at the next parade you attend. Tampa’s Mayor, Jane Castor, says don’t throw beads into Tampa Bay during Gasparilla!
Now before we go any further, the Mayor isn’t saying that you can’t throw beads. She doesn’t want them ending up in the water. The beads are really bad for the environment and harmful to marine life. In 2019, divers from the Florida Aquarium collected 120 pounds of beads from the water near Bayshore Boulevard.
The beads take hundreds of years just to break down into micro-plastics. Those micro-plastics never go away. That’s one of the reasons why Tampa has launched “Bead Free Bay.” A clean Tampa Bay is better for everyone and everything above and below the water.
In case you were wondering, it is illegal to throw beads or anything else for that matter into the water. There’s actually a Florida Statute that says it.
So at the next Gasparilla parade, throw your beads, but keep them away from the water!
HAPPENING NOW: Mayor @JaneCastor, Green Gasparilla, Ye Mystic Krewe of @GasparillaTampa and the @floridaaquarium are joining forces to remind the public of the importance of keeping beads out of the bay to protect our environment. https://t.co/Z9wqMWXFPE pic.twitter.com/rdYnCdnBgy
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) December 16, 2021
[SOURCE 10 Tampa Bay]
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