Ready To Tackle Trash - L-R Sophia Smith, Education Assistant for Dolphin Encounters, Phenton Seymour, M.P. for South Beach and Minister of State for the Ministry of the Environment; Linzi Knowles-Belton, Education Coordinator for Dolphin Encounters; Jaime Lewis, Director of International and Community Service Roteract; Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Minister of Tourism and Aviation; and Ruthann Rolle, Deputy Publisher of Tourism Today prepare to tackle trash at South Beach during the 25th Anniversary of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup organized by Dolphin Encounters. The cleanup is the largest volunteer event of its kind in the world and takes place in over 100 countries.
Nassau, Bahamas– A record number of volunteers from all walks of life
throughout The Bahamas turned out to participate in the 25th
Anniversary of International Coastal Cleanup. To date, this global initiative
has helped remove over 100 million pounds of marine litter from over 170,000
miles of coasts since it began 25 years ago. In
New Providence alone, more than 800 volunteers met at the South Beach
pools area to clear the mangroves and surrounding coastline
of an astounding
39 tons of trash.
International Coastal
Cleanup is the world’s largest one-day volunteer event created to prevent and
eliminate pollution of the marine environment. This year, volunteers in New Providence, Abaco, and Grand
Bahama turned out to clean-up their respective beaches and wetlands. The event, which began as a local program in
Texas, has gradually expanded to include every major body of water in the world
in over 100 countries, including The Bahamas.
Coke and a Smile - L-R Walter Wells, President and CEO and Kirkland Munnings and Cherfelt Wells of the Caribbean Bottling Company at the International Coastal Cleanup. Coca-Cola is the global sponsor of ICC and the Caribbean bottling Company supported the local event by providing volunteers with free Cokes, Dasani water and other beverages produced by the company.
“This year was a record for The Bahamas
in terms of the numbers of volunteers and the amount of debris we collected and
we are still sorting through the results. So many volunteers from the local
community, corporate and civic organizations, students and concerned neighbours
came out in force to help rid our wetlands
and beaches of vast amounts of trash,” said Ranaldo Smith, education supervisor
at Dolphin Encounters which is the National Coordinator of International
Coastal Cleanup in The Bahamas. “In New Providence, we cleaned the South Beach
pools area which is home to mangrove systems and sadly has been the site for
illegal dumping. We found everything out there from refrigerators, mattresses,
car parts, construction materials and so much more. Volunteers also cleaned in
Abaco and Grand Bahama. Each volunteer was determined to clean and together we
made a huge impact. We also sent the message that we don’t want trash to
destroy our environment. It took many people working as a unified team to make
a realWe hope our efforts will be supported by all by
putting trash in its place.” difference and we
thank everyone who participated.
Getting It Done -
Containers donated by Bahamas Waste and The Department of Environmental Health Services and large trucks donated by T and K Trash Removal, Dean’s Building supplies and John Taylor Trucking made it possible to remove 39 tons of trash from South Beach during International Coastal Cleanup organized by Dolphin Encounters.
In
New Providence volunteers combed the mangroves and surrounding areas for five
hours. Another group of approximately 50 volunteers, organized by Scotiabank
Bahamas, took to the shallow waters snorkeling and cleaning any debris found
caught in the mangrove roots and water.
The
top ten debris items collected in South Beach included construction materials,
picnic items (cups, plates, knives, spoons), beverage cans, food wrappers and
containers, plastic and glass beverage bottles, caps, lids, paper and plastic
bags, cigarettes, shotgun shells and clothing.
A wide array of
volunteers turned out in force to participate in New Providence including
Phenton Neymour, M.P. for the South Beach Constituency and Minister of State in
The Ministry of the Environment and Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace the Minister of
Tourism and Aviation.
Making a Difference -
Volunteers help cleanup South Beach during the 25th Anniversary of International Coastal Cleanup. More than 800 volunteers came out to tackle trash and make a difference in the event that was organized by Dolphin Encounters in New Providence.
“The South Beach area
and its ecosystems have been destroyed for over 50 years,” said the Honourable
Phenton Neymour, M.P. for South Beach. “The area has been developed and we have
lost some of the mangroves. It is important that we now preserve and protect
the existing mangroves and minimize any negative effect on them for future
generations. We need a continuation of an educational process, particularly
with our children, to stress the importance of keeping the environment clean. Exercises
such as this cleanup are important and I commend everyone involved.”
The Ministry of Tourism
came out in large numbers to clean and participate in International Coastal
Cleanup lead by Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace the Minister of Tourism and
Aviation. “The Ministry of Tourism
is part of the community and this is a community event,” said the Honourable
Vanderpool-Wallace. “We at the Ministry of Tourism have long believed that what
is good for the community is good for tourism. The irresponsible dumping here has
gone on for far too long and we hope this effort begins to bring about a
resolution. It is our job to restore this beautiful area back to its original
state and to input controls that prevent this from ever happening again.”
Recording Data - Students take time to fill out data cards with each piece of trash picked up during the cleanup. All data is collected and sent to the Ocean Conservancy which tracks trash around the world.
Also participating in
the clean up were volunteers from: Dolphin Encounters; the Indaba Project of
the Grants Town Community Centre, Miss Earth Bahamas; Miss Teen Bahamas; National
Coastal Awareness Committee; Rotary Nassau Sunrise Club, the Bahamas National
Trust; Ministry of Tourism and Aviation; Roteract; Scotiabank Bahamas; Workers
House Academy and The Royal Bahamas Police Cadets Corps. Local residents and
many other volunteers from all over Nassau also participated in large numbers.
Students from many
schools that participated in the GGYA program or their environmental clubs also
took part including students from: Anatol Rodgers; Bahamas Bible College; Christian
Heritage School; C.C. Sweeting; C.I. Gibson; College of the Bahamas; C.R.
Walker; C.V. Bethel Senior High School; Columbus Primary; Boys Brigade; Faith Temple; Government High School;
GHS Interact Club; Kingsway
Academy; Lyford Cay International School; L.W. Young, Queens College, Mt.
Carmel Preparatory Academy;Nassau
Christian Academy; Oakes Field Primary; R.M. Bailey; Renaissance Academy; Royal
Bahamas Defense Force Rangers; St. Anne’s High School; St. Andrews School; St.
Augustine’s College; St. Barnabas; St John’s College; St. Thomas Moore;
Tamberly School; The Village School; and Young
Bahamian Marine Scientists.
The
Beach Buddies programme, a year-round marine conservation field trip offered by
Dolphin Encounters-Project B.E.A.C.H, was originally inspired by the ICC and
designed with the guidelines from the Ocean Conservancy. After hours of
cleaning up volunteers sorted their refuse by type and wrote down their
findings on detailed data cards. The data cards will be submitted to the Ocean
Conservancy to help them continue to track common types of litter and try to
prevent these items from ending up on coasts in the future.
This year’s sponsors for the New Providence event
included: Aquapure Water Ltd., Bahamas Food Services; Bahamas Waste Ltd., Bahamas
Wholesale Agency, Bapak, Bahamas National Trust, Caribbean Bottling Company, Chelsea’s
Choice, Chilly Willy Ice, Creative Eyes Video, D’Albenas Agency, Dan Knowles
Tours, Department of Environmental Health Services, Dean’s Building Supplies,
Dolphin Encounters Ltd., Flawless Image Photography, Holiday Ice, Island
Cellular, John Taylor Trucking, Johnson’s Charter Service; Kelly’s Home Centre,
Leisure Tours, Lowe’s Wholesale, The Bahamas Weekly, Ports International,
Purity Bakery and T and K Trash Removal, Town Center Mall and the ZNS Community
Page.
Coca-Cola is the global
sponsor of ICC and the Caribbean Bottling Company sponsored the event in both
Nassau and Grand Bahama. “Coca-Cola has supported ocean and waterways cleanup
efforts for 15 years and we are pleased to see the program develop further,” said
Walter Wells, President & CEO of Caribbean Bottling Company. “We have
committed ourselves to improving the quality of life in the communities where
we do business and the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup is a
perfect fit for The Bahamas.” Last year alone, nearly 42,000 Coca-Cola system
associates, their friends and families in 32 markets around the world
participated in the cleanup, contributing nearly 265,000 hours of volunteer
time.
“The International
Coastal Cleanup engages people to remove trash and debris from the world’s
beaches and waterways, to identify the sources of debris, and to change the
behaviours that cause pollution,” added Linzi Knowles- Belton, education coordinator
for Dolphin Encounters. “The event isn’t just about pollution clean-up it’s
about pollution prevention. The event focuses on educating and empowering
people to become a part of the marine debris solution. We thank each and every
volunteer and sponsor that participated - you each made a valuable contribution
to our environment. As a coastal community keeping our ocean and waterways
clean is vital to our environment and way of life. Together we can preserve our
coasts and create a “sea of change.”
