Marine debris and other waste that litter the sea coasts are posing a big threat to coastal environment and bio-diversity. The third Saturday of September is commemorated as International Coastal Clean-Up Day all over the world. Volunteers gather on beaches the world over and undertake campaigns to clean up beaches by collecting and disposing such debris.
AFPRO Bhubaneswar along with UAA, OTFWU, SAMUDRAM and Greenpeace, who form part of the Orissa Marine Resource Conservation Consortium kept time with the event and organized a Coastal Clean-up Drive on the 16th September 2007 at Gopalpur Beach in Orissa. Keeping in mind the need for awareness on sanitation in the area, a simultaneous hand wash campaign was also clubbed with it.
AFPRO Bhubaneswar along with UAA, OTFWU, SAMUDRAM and Greenpeace, who form part of the Orissa Marine Resource Conservation Consortium kept time with the event and organized a Coastal Clean-up Drive on the 16th September 2007 at Gopalpur Beach in Orissa. Keeping in mind the need for awareness on sanitation in the area, a simultaneous hand wash campaign was also clubbed with it. A remarkable number of 350 people participated in the event. They comprised fisher folk, school and college students from Gopalpur, and representatives of municipal authorities and other government agencies. Of this gathering, nearly 250 were students.
Dr. B. K. Sahu, Vice Chancellor of Berhampur University, inaugurated the campaign. Complimenting the effort, he recommended that similar events for coastal conservation needed to be conducted on a continual and regular basis; as a strong campaign was needed to influence individual behaviour and keep beaches clean. He suggested the setting up of a local committee who would monitor cleanliness at the beach and promote awareness on the issue.
After the inaugural session, the gathering split into two teams and scoured the one-and-half kilometer stretch of Gopalpur beach, extending from Palm Beach junction to Haripur creek, for debris.
On regrouping after an hour, the participants found that they had collected almost a quintal in debris.
This comprised mainly two categories – first, worn out fishing equipment like fishing lines, nets, plastic sheets, ropes, trapping bands, and secondly, consumer wastes like food containers and wraps, beverage bottles, tobacco wraps and cigarettes buds and a lot of plastic bottles, cups and plates.
The learning that settled into the participants and observers was very clear – a little effort would contribute in a big way to preserving coastal environment and aesthetic cleanliness.
This was followed by the hand wash campaign. Making a symbolic gesture, the participants washed their hands with soap to promote the issue. The group reflected the fact that the incidence of diarrhea could be reduced almost 50% if people merely adopted the habit of washing hands properly with soap after soiling them and before any form of food intake.
The students who participated were from PM High School, Saraswati Vidya Mandir, and UP school, the College of Fisheries, Gopalpur College, and Berhampur University all in Gopalpur. The others included fisherfolk, non-government organizations, interested public, and representatives of the fish workers’ trade unions, the Coast Guard, district government departments of Fisheries, Revenue and General Administration, and the Notified Area Council.
Dr. B. K. Sahu, Vice Chancellor of Berhampur University, inaugurated the campaign. Complimenting the effort, he recommended that similar events for coastal conservation needed to be conducted on a continual and regular basis; as a strong campaign was needed to influence individual behaviour and keep beaches clean. He suggested the setting up of a local committee who would monitor cleanliness at the beach and promote awareness on the issue.
After the inaugural session, the gathering split into two teams and scoured the one-and-half kilometer stretch of Gopalpur beach, extending from Palm Beach junction to Haripur creek, for debris.On regrouping after an hour, the participants found that they had collected almost a quintal in debris.
This comprised mainly two categories – first, worn out fishing equipment like fishing lines, nets, plastic sheets, ropes, trapping bands, and secondly, consumer wastes like food containers and wraps, beverage bottles, tobacco wraps and cigarettes buds and a lot of plastic bottles, cups and plates.
The learning that settled into the participants and observers was very clear – a little effort would contribute in a big way to preserving coastal environment and aesthetic cleanliness.
This was followed by the hand wash campaign. Making a symbolic gesture, the participants washed their hands with soap to promote the issue. The group reflected the fact that the incidence of diarrhea could be reduced almost 50% if people merely adopted the habit of washing hands properly with soap after soiling them and before any form of food intake.
The students who participated were from PM High School, Saraswati Vidya Mandir, and UP school, the College of Fisheries, Gopalpur College, and Berhampur University all in Gopalpur. The others included fisherfolk, non-government organizations, interested public, and representatives of the fish workers’ trade unions, the Coast Guard, district government departments of Fisheries, Revenue and General Administration, and the Notified Area Council.
