The South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center is flipping the script on the typical shark tournament this month. Instead of catching sharks, the idea is to collect discarded balloons from local waters to protect them and compete for prizes throughout July.
Because they often resemble "food" to aquatic creatures and generally muck up the environment, balloons have become a hot topic as local municipalities debate and enact bans on their intentional release and sale.
"Whether we are on the ocean doing our shark research or exploring nature trails, we find balloons everywhere. It’s a real problem for our marine and terrestrial wildlife," Frank Quevedo, SoFo's executive director, said in a statement.
In the Balloons for Sharks tournament, sponsored by the museum's Shark Research and Education Program, the first-place prize will be a trip on the water with SoFo shark researchers to observe and tag great white sharks. There will also be second and third-place prizes awarded.
Any New York State resident can take part by collecting balloons anywhere in the state. Participants should download an app called FishDonkey (be sure to search for "SoFo" once it has been downloaded) to sign up and report their results. Winners will be announced Aug.1. The museum can be contacted for more information at 631-537-9735 or [email protected].
