BEACH
CLEANING ACTIVITIES, EDUCATIONAL and AWARENSS RAISING CAMPAIGNS
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WORLDWIDE
Worldwide.
A global project co-ordinated by the Ocean Conservancy
(former Center for Marine Conservation, CMC), a U.S. non-governmental
organization. International Coastal Cleanup is
an international network of environmental and civic organizations,
government agencies, industries, and individuals working
with the objective to remove marine litter (marine debris)
and collect valuable information on the amounts and types
of litter. This information serves to educate the public
on marine litter issues and to encourage positive changes
that will reduce litter and enhance the quality of aquatic
environments. The mission of the International Coastal
Cleanup is to remove litter from the shorelines, waterways,
and beaches of the world's lakes, rivers, and the ocean;
collect valuable information on the amount and types of
litter; educate people on the issue of marine litter;
and use the information collected from the cleanup to
effect positive change — on all levels, from the
individual to the international — to reduce marine
litter and enhance marine conservation.
The
U.S. National
Marine Debris Monitoring Program is being coordinated
by The Ocean Conservancy's Office of Pollution Prevention
and Monitoring with funding from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA, National Marine
Fisheries Service, National Park Service, and the
U.S. Coast Guard will use the data to gain a better
understanding of the nature of marine debris and assess
the effectiveness of current marine debris legislation,
such as MARPOL.
In
the year 2002 International Coastal Cleanup, over
390,000 volunteers in 100 countries took part, removing
litter from over 12,000 miles of coastline and waterways,
collecting more than 6.2 million pieces of litter,
weighing over 8.2 million pounds. Almost
58 per cent of the litter/debris found can be attributed
to shoreline and recreational activities such as beach-picnickers
and general littering.
See
also, for example: Beachwatch, United Kingdom (see
below) • Coastal Cleanup in the Philippines,
organized by the International
Marinelife Association • "Coast
is Clear" annual coastal cleanup in Bonaire,
Netherlands Antilles, co-ordinated by the Sea Turtle
Club Bonaire (STCB) as part of the ICC and in conjunction
with Clean-up the World, co-ordinated by the local
group Tene Boneiru Limpi, (Keep Bonaire Clean) and
the underwater clean-up co-ordinated by CURO •
Get
the Drift and Bag It (annual statewide cleanup
operation, on land and underwater, organized by Hawai'i
Sea Grant) • Project AWARE International
Cleanup Day • South Carolina Sea Grant Beach
Sweep/River Sweep • North
Carolina Big Sweep • New
Hampshire Beach Cleanups organized by the Blue
Ocean Society for Marine Conservation (Blue Ocean)
• Singapore
East Coast Beach Cleanup.
See
also Good
Mate — A Clean Boating Program; and 
Divers
Support Clean Oceans
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WORLDWIDE
Worldwide.
The
global outreach program of Clean Up Australia (see below).
Seeing the success of Clean Up Australia (established
in 1989),
UNEP made contact for taking the idea in a global
context. After a lot of preparation and discussion, Clean
Up the World was established in 1993, and UNEP has been
the program partner of Clean Up Australia since then.
Clean
up the World is an initiative where cleanups are
held in areas such as beaches, waterways, parks, markets,
roadsides and schools. The objectives are to bring
together citizens from every corner of the globe in
a simple activity that will positively assist their
local environments, and to share with all nations
and cultures the information and practical experience.
The
cleanup of designated sites is undertaken by volunteers
who join forces to safely remove garbage for more responsible
and healthier disposal and, where possible, arrange
for the recycling or reuse of the material retrieved.
Local clean ups are now complemented by initiatives
aimed at producing longer-term environmental solutions.
With the annual event now attracting a diverse range
of countries and cultures, cleanup activities vary between
communities from rubbish collections to education campaigns,
environmental concerts to photographic displays, tree
planting projects to the establishment of recycling
centers and waste minimization programs. Clean Up the
World co-ordinators include community and environmental
groups, schools, scouts and guides, government departments
and officials, consumer and industry organizations,
sponsors and many dedicated individuals. Clean Up the
World emphasizes the importance of establishing long-term
sustainability and implementing strategies to recycle
and reuse waste materials, as well as to reduce waste
at its source. •• On the web site, one can
search for local/national organizers.
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SEVERAL
COUNTRIES
Initially
Europe-wide, now Europe, southern Africa, and the Caribbean.
The originally (1985) French concept of the Blue
Flag was developed on a European level to include
also other areas of environmental management, such as
waste management and coastal planning and protection.
Besides beaches, marinas also became eligible for the
Blue Flag. In 1987, 244 beaches and 208 marinas from
10 countries were awarded the Blue Flag. For 2002, the
corresponding numbers were 2,076 beaches and 727 marinas.
23 European and one non-European country are participating:
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the
United Kingdom. The award of the Blue Flag is currently
based on 27 criteria for beaches and 16 criteria for
marinas, covering the same four aspects of management:
Water quality; Environmental Education and Information;
Environmental Management; Safety and Services.
FEEE
is currently working on the implementation of the
Blue Flag Campaign in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico,
Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the Bahamas,
French islands of Martinique/Guadeloupe). According
to the FEE, an application for FEE membership from
the Caribbean
Conservation Association (CCA) has been accepted
on behalf of a "Caribbean Blue Flag Consortium",
where also Caribbean Tourism Organization"
and Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST)
are members. The official launch of the Blue Flag
pilot year is expected to take place in December
2003. Other countries than South Africa in the Southern
African region might also join the implementation
process. Finally, FEEE is in contact with organisations
in Argentina, Canada and the United States interested
in the campaign.
The
Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe
(FEEE)
is currently working on the implementation of the
Blue Flag Campaign in the Caribbean. Other countries
than South Africa in the Southern African region
might also join the implementation process. In the
Caribbean, eight countries have carried out a feasibility
study and will soon be ready to launch the pilot
phase.
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SEVERAL
COUNTRIES
| Worldwide.
A project created and run by Brazilian photographer
Fabiano Prado Barretto, from the city of Salvador
da Bahia, Brazil. The Local Beach - Global
Garbage project includes a photo exhibitions
and the distribution of a poster (click image
to the right for larger version) and stickers
of the project logo to ports worldwide. Fabiano
Prado Barretto has made catalogues of the marine
litter he has found on different Brazilian beaches.
The project has been much recognized by the media
in Brazil, the U.S., Germany and Portugal. It
will also be presented in Brazilian schools, and
include beach walks to look for marine litter
and categorize it (also learn about the sources/origins). |
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EUROPE-WIDE
Coastwatch.
Europe-wide. Coastwatch is an international
educational network in 23 European countries with
the aim to train and educate volunteer and students
in field work, basic reporting methods and relevance
of results obtained to policy legislation. The
objective is to raise awareness of the coastal
zone as a valuable common, shared and vulnerable
resources, and to gather baseline data on European
coasts for the use by local communities, authorities,
governments, research organizations, and NGOs.
Annual marine litter surveys on beaches, following
a set method, is an important part of the work.
See
contact
persons throughout Europe.
See
also, e.g.: Stichting
De Noordzee (Coastwatch in the Netherlands)
• Coastwatch
Galicia • Nettverk
for miljølære (Network for environmental
eduction; Coastwatch in Norway) • Naturewatch
Sweden (Coastwatch in Sweden).
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NATIONAL
Clean
Up Australia,
Australia. Clean Up Australia
is the nation's largest community environmental organisation.
During his BOC Challenge solo around-the-world yacht
race the initiator Ian Kiernan was shocked and disgusted
by the pollution and rubbish that he continually encountered
in areas such as the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean.
"Throughout the race, rubbish continually popped up
on either side of the bow. I can't overstate my disgust
when I found this sea of magic and myth littered with
rubbish from discarded thongs, and plastic buckets,
disposable nappies, toothpaste tubes and plastic bags".
The first Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day in 1989 achieved
an enormous public response with over 40,000 Sydneysiders
donating their time and energy in an attempt to clean-up
their harbour. The next year Clean Up Australia Day
was born. Over 300,000 volunteers turned out on the
first Clean Up Australia Day and the numbers have
risen ever since.
Coastcare,
Australia. A major component
of Coasts and Clean Seas, the Commonwealth Government's
marine and coastal conservation initiative under the
Natural Heritage Trust. It is a national program that
encourages community involvement in the protection,
management and rehabilitation of Australia's coastal
and marine environments. The program assists local communities
to form partnerships with local land managers to undertake
projects that aim to improve and protect coastal and
marine habitats. The objectives are: to engender in
local communities, including local industries, a sense
of stewardship for coastal and marine areas; to provide
opportunities and resources for residents, volunteers,
business and interest groups to participate in coastal
management; to support community identification of natural
and cultural heritage resources; to facilitate interaction
between the community and bodies with responsibility
for managing coastal areas.
Gould
League Bay Litter Watch, Australia.
Australia's leading environmental education organisation
seeks to create on-the-ground measurable improvements
to the environment through its education programmes,
consultancy, publications and other activities. The
Bay Litter Watch project is an educational program to
help children and the larger community link the litter
and pollution from our streets, homes and schools, with
the continued destruction of our marine environment.
Keep
Bermuda Beautiful, Bermuda.
KBB is dedicated to action against the proliferation
of litter and other environmental conditions damaging
to the beauty of Bermuda. KBB also promotes, through
education awareness in the entire community, the importance
of Keeping Bermuda Beautiful. KBB organizes annual National
Clean-up Days,
including Marine Clean Up activities.
Environment
Canada: Solutions , Canada.
A number of examples of what can be done to prevent
marine litter, presented by Environment
Canada at the Green Lane web site (Marine
Debris).
Pitch-In-Canada
National Marine Debris Surveillance Programme,
Canada, is co-ordinated
by the organization Pitch-In-Canada in co-operation
with Environment Canada's Marine Environment Division.
It is designed to provide detailed data on the problem
of marine debris by studying what is washed up on the
beach. The research methodology adopted by Pitch-In-Canada
has been modified for Canadian conditions and is based
on a research model in use in Europe and the United
Kingdom. The work to collect litter is done by volunteers.
Fisheries
and Oceans, Canada's Ocean Strategy, Canada:
Beach
Sweeps. The goals of the Beach Sweeps are to improve
coastal environments; inform the public about the extent
and impact of marine debris; collect data for future
studies; encourage people to behave in a more environmentally-friendly
manner; and help individuals and groups organize a safe,
educational and fun activity.
Clean
Nova Scotia, Canada: Great
Nova Scotia Pick me up! The Great Nova Scotia Pick
Me Up is a campaign coordinated by Clean Nova Scotia
that encourages Nova Scotians to get together to pick
up litter.
Canadian
Ocean Habitat Protection Society, Canada.
The COHPS is a non-governmental organization dedicated
to exploring, understanding, protecting and restoring
Eastern Canada's "incredible northern coral forests
and those fisheries that can coexist with them".
On this site one finds, e.g., information on the effects
on mammals and fish of ghost nets in the sea.
Hellenic
Marine Environment Association
(HELMEPA), Greece. The ojbective
of the initiative is "to instill and nurture environmental
consciousness throughout the shipping industry so as to
compliment the requirements of the legislation for pollution
prevention and safety at sea. And this because the Greek
seafarers understood that even the most widely accepted
international conventions and national laws cannot be
effectively implemented until every sector of the shipping
industry is committed to the joint effort. Such a commitment,
they declared, would be effective only through a concerted
voluntary effort to educate, inform and motivate all,
from shipowner to the last seafarer". HELMEPA is
in charge of maritime training (for ships' crews) and
environmental education (including awarness campaigns
on beaches, the organization of annual clean-up activities
[as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, ICC], permanent
and mobile exhibitions, drawing/poster competitions for
students, etc.).
Environment
Agency, Japan. The Agency
plans to take steps to prevent marine pollution from plastics.
Actions to reduce the dumping of plastics include public
awareness campaigns in Japan, and co-operation with companies
to recover plastic products (e.g., collection of plastic
items at convenience stores near the sea), etc. Measures
to deal with resin pellets include information campaigns
targeting the relevant industries and consideration of
new regulations to prevent releases of the resin pellets.
Other activities will include supporting networks and
promoting clean-up efforts at the national, local government,
and citizen level; conducting further research into the
routes and mechanisms of marine pollution from plastics;
collaborating in studies with neighboring countries and
promoting international efforts; and developing biodegradable
plastics.
Bonnaire
yellow submarine, Netherlands
Antilles, Bonaire..Yellow
Submarine is a dive shop on the island of Bonaire in the
West Indies. Yellow Submarine organizes and sponsors the
Bonaire Monthly Underwater Clean-Up dive, which takes
place every first Saturday of the month on the reefs and
beaches.
Seaweek
Marine Debris Survey, New
Zealand. The annual
Seaweek, organized by the Marine Education Society of
Aotearoa (NZ), includes Beach Clean Up activities and
marine debris surveys. Seaweek began as an art competition
with a marine theme in 1987 and has now grown to become
a major national public event held for one week each
year. A wide variety of local and national groups along
with government departments participate by offering
special programmes not normally available to the public
and school students.
South
African Coastal Information Centre, South
Africa.
A
web site that provides much information on coastal issues,
including Enviro Facts on Marine Pollution, where one
can find
Save
Our Sea Life, Prevent
Plastic Pollution,
Pocket
Guide to Marine Debris)
and
Marine
Plastic Pollution.
Adopt-a-Beach,
United Kingdom. A national
environmental initiative involving local communities
in caring for their local coastal environment. Groups
and individuals all over the U.K. are given the opportunity
to adopt their favourite stretch of coast and take part
in beach cleans and surveys to monitor coastal pollution.
The surveys are carried out by teams of volunteers on
a quarterly basis. Teams collect litter and note down
on an easy to use survey form the quantities and types
of rubbish they find. The results from these surveys
and beach cleans are analysed by the Marine Conservation
Society and used to identify the major sources of litter
pollution around the UK coast. In addition, participants
are able to analyse their own data and take positive
action to reduce litter that is locally sourced. The
information obtained is an essential element in helping
to raise awareness of the actions needed to tackle coastal
pollution at source. The combined 'bottom up' and 'top
down' approach means Adopt-a-Beach provides the greatest
opportunity yet for reducing coastal litter pollution.
Beachwatch,
United Kingdom. A campaign
organized by the Marine
Conservation Society and part of the International
Coastal Cleanup (see above).Thousands
of volunteers from all across the U.K. visit their chosen
beach, remove all the litter from it, record what they
find and send the data back to the MCS. It is analysed
and reported in the Beachwatch report, published every
February and available from the MCS. Through this, MCS
works to monitor litter on Britain's beaches, raise
awareness of the issue of marine litter, and encourage
action to reduce marine pollution at source.
Bag
it & Bin It Campaign, United
Kingdom. Launched as a national initiative in
1995 by the National Bag It & Bin It Group. Members
include the U.K. Environment Agency, Tidy Britain Group,
Women's Environmental Network, Anglian Water, Northumbrian
Water, North West Water, and the Department of the Environment.
The aim of the Campaign is to solve the problem of protecting
beaches and rivers from sanitary waste by spreading
the message of a simple solution: "Bag It and Bin
It - Don't Flush It".
Cumbria
Marine Litter Project, United
Kingdom. CMLP promotes the Bag It & Bin It
Campaign on the basis that simple steps taken by the
public in their homes removes the problem at source,
thus keeping costs down at treatment plants and minimising
risks to wildlife and human health on the beaches.
National
Aquatic Litter Group, United
Kingdom. Formed in 1997 with the following aim:
"To achieve a quantifiable reduction in the amount
of litter in rivers and the sea around the United Kingdom
from domestic and international sources and enhance
local aquatic environments through systematic programmes
of work." The Marine Conservation Society is currently
providing the secretariat for the group. See the National
Strategy for Prevention and Remediation of Aquatic Litter.
See also BeachBeat,
an new initiative for young people, aged 8 upwards,
to make a visual survey (no litter collection) to report
on and improve the visual quality of beaches across
England and Wales.
Forth
Estuary Forum Coastal Litter Campaign, United
Kingdom. Aims to "develop and implement
a community 'hands on' and public awareness-raising
programme intended to tackle and monitor the issue of
marine and coastal litter in the Firth of Forth".
The project started in May 2001, will run for two years
and involve three main integrated components: a coordinated
clean-up and community involvement campaign; an awareness
and education campaign; and an ongoing monitoring programme.
Marine
Debris in the Falkland Islands. Falkland
Island, United Kingdom. Information by Falklands
Conservation on the problem of marine litter and shipping
measures that should be adopted to mitigate the problem.
Adopt-a-Beach
is part of the Public Education Programme of the Californian
Coastal Commission. It is a year Ôround, statewide
beach cleanup program. Any group, public or private
can volunteer to clean any of one of the adoptable beaches.
See also California
Coastal Cleanup Day, which is part of the International
Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Center for Marine
Conservation. In 2000, the event attracted over 40,000
participants, who picked up upwards of 700,000 pounds
of debris from California beaches. Boating Clean &
Green Campaign is another component of the Commission's
Educational Programme.
Texas:
Adopt-a-Beach
Programme.
National
Marine Debris Monitoring Program,
United States. A scientifically
valid, marine debris study in which volunteer groups
monitor and remove marine debris on coastal beaches
of the United States. The information gathered during
this five-year program is compiled and analyzed by the
Ocean Conservancy (former CMC) and will be used by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine
the effectiveness of current regulations against dumping
at sea. The NMDMP is co-ordinated by the Ocean Conservancy
and is supported by the EPA.
Turning
the Tide on Trash,
United
States.
Environmental Protection Agency.
A comprehensive Learning Guide
on Marine Debris.
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, United
States. Educational videos. "Marine litter",
which describes how people can help prevent marine litter
and which organizations have marine litter disposal
projects. "Marine Refuse Disposal Project",
story of a marine recycling project in Newport, Oregon.
"Trashing the Oceans", describing the problem
of marine debris, how it effects wildlife, and what
can be done about it.
Monofilament
Recovery & Recycling Program, Florida,
United States. Monofilament line is another name
for single-strand, high-density, nylon fishing line
that is used on fishing reels and in the manufacturing
of fishing nets. This program is a statewide effort
by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
and its partners to
educate the public on the problems caused by monofilament
line left in the environment, to encourage recycling
through a network of line recycling bins and drop-off
locations, and to conduct volunteer monofilament line
cleanup events. The long-term goals are to heighten
awareness about the negative impacts that fishing line
debris has on human welfare, marine life, and water
quality, decrease the amount of fishing line entering
and remaining in the natural environment, and increase
the amount of fishing line being recycled.
Marine
debris cleanup in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands, United States. A NOAA expedition
co-ordinated through a multi-agency partnership made
up of the National Marine Fisheries Service Honolulu
Lab;
the U.S. Coast Guard, National Ocean Service, the Hawai'i
Sea Grant; the Ocean
Conservancy; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
the City & County of Honolulu; and the NOAA Research
Vessel Townsend Cromwell.
See
also the Reef
Restoration / Marine Debris Survey & Removal.
(Townsend Cromwell Student Connection).
Pacifica
Beach Coalition, California,
Monthly
cleanups.
CoastSweep
cleanups. Massachusetts, United
States. These cleanups, which are co-ordinated
by Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management and organized
by local volunteers, are held at more than 80 locations
throughout the state. In 2001, 0ver 5,000 volunteers
turned out to remove hundreds of thousands of pieces
of debris along almost 200 miles of coastline.
Beach
Sweeps, New Jersey, United
States. The Beach Sweeps organized by the Clean
Ocean Action is one of the longest running cleanups
in the world. The first one was conducted in 1985 at
Sandy Hook with 75 volunteers. The Beach Sweeps went
statewide in the spring of 1991 and that same year a
computer program was developed to analyze the data collected
during the cleanup. In 1993, the Beach Sweeps went statewide
for both the spring and autumn cleanups, and locations
along the Delaware Bay were added. In that year, over
2,500 volunteers hit the beach removing over 130,000
pieces of debris from New Jersey beaches. Since 1985,
over 30,600 volunteers have participated in the Beach
Sweeps resulting in 100,200 volunteer hours for the
environment. Their efforts have resulted in millions
of pieces of debris removed from New Jersey's Beaches.
A value for this cleanup effort has been estimated at
over one billion dollars.
Urban
Litter Partnership to Prevent Litter and Illegal Dumping,
United States. The
American Plastics Council (APC), Keep America Beautiful
and the U.S. Conference of Mayors are leading a national
Urban Litter Partnership, a program which will focus
on gathering available data on the causes and effects
of littering in urban settings, and provide quantitative
information on the best practices being employed to
prevent it. A best practices guide highlights 12 city
programs that have created effective, sustainable approaches.
Keep
Baltic Tidy, Baltic Sea.
A network of environment organisations around the Baltic
Sea aiming at increasing co-operation, giving environmental
education and co-ordinating joint campaigns to improve
environmental protection as related to leisure boating
and spare time at the seaside. The network includes
the organizations Keep the Estonian Sea Tidy, Keep the
Archipelago Tidy (Finland), Keep Latvia Tidy, Friends
of the Earth Latvia, Lithuanian Fund for Nature Russia,
Keep St Petersburg Tidy Group (Russia), and Keep Sweden
Tidy Foundation. |
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