Wavemakers Participate In 23rd Annual National Clean Up Campaign
Press Release Date: October 7, 2014
Location: Belize City, Belize
Contact:
Hundreds of volunteers collected garbage along the coast and rivers to promote cleaner communities and raise awareness of negative impact of marine debris
On Saturday, October 4th, through the coordination efforts of the Scout Association of Belize, Oceana Belize, Rotaract Clubs, environmental clubs and organizations across the country, hundreds of volunteers took to the beach, riverbanks, canals and lagoons to collect and remove garbage and other forms of debris from Belize’s waterways.
Every article of trash was recorded and the information will be sent to the Ocean Conservancy to document the state of marine debris in Belizean waters. According to the 2013 data, approximately 9300 pounds of trash was collected from twenty-seven (27) miles of coastline and waterways—fifty different locations.
The trash collected this year included the usual non-biodegradable suspects: plastics, Styrofoam, aluminum wrappers and paper. But the debris also included things like car parts, tire rims and medical waste. Beyond compromising Belize’s aesthetic beauty, marine debris poses serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles such as turtles, marine mammals such as dolphins and manatees.
On behalf of the other organizers, Oceana Belize sincerely thank the volunteers who took the time to do their part in helping to keep Belize’s waterways clean.
For further information, please contact:
Amelita Knowles: 610-4874
aknowles@oceana.org
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Oceana is the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans. Oceana wins policy victories for the oceans using science-based campaigns. Since 2001, we have protected over 1.2 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. More than 600,000 supporters have already joined Oceana. Global in scope, Oceana has offices in Asia, North, South and Central America and Europe. To learn more, please visit www.oceana.org.
