Meet Baby Shug

The Salt Pond Visitor Center just landed a shark - an ocean debris plastic baby shark, that is.

What is Baby Shug?

12 September 2024 - EASTHAM, MA - The Salt Pond Visitor Center just landed a shark - a plastic baby shark, that is. The new sculpture, made from many of the larger materials found in Mama Shug at Herring Cove Beach, illustrates the plastic problem in our oceans and was commissioned by CARE for the Cape and Islands. Baby Shug will be seen by an estimated 4 million visitors a summer.

Is there a Mama Shug?

The large Mama Shug shark was installed in 2023 at the National Seashore's Herring Cove Visitor Center in Provincetown. Baby Shug, like any baby, contains bits of its mother - in this case, drawing on some of the same types of plastic marine debris to create a family linkage. Both pieces of art serve to illustrate the challenges of marine debris, as well acting as a reminder that sharks swim in our waters.

Where did the materials come from?

The materials that form Baby Shug came from Cape Cod beaches. Many were gathered as part of an ongoing research project by the Center for Coastal Studies' Laura Ludwig and her beach brigade. The multi-year project gathers debris from the beaches and counts and categorizes it as part of an effort to better understand the sources of plastics pollution.

Where can visitors see Baby Shug?

Baby Shug will remain on display at the Salt Pond Visitors center, where millions of visitors - many with no  experience with either marine debris or sharks - have a chance to engage with ocean issues in a new way, through the power of art.

You might also like ... Trash to Treasure for World Oceans Day (Mama Shug 2023):

(click photo to watch)