40 kilos of rubbish on World Oceans Day!

June 8, 2015 by conservesamoa 1 Comment

Members of the Samoa Conservation Society collected 40 kilograms of rubbish along the Taumeasina foreshore yesterday afternoon. This was part of the World Oceans Day celebrations, where the global community undertake various activities to commemorate the importance of oceans in our lives and our planet. The theme of Healthy Ocean, Healthy Planet remains a challenge if the amount of rubbish that was collected is an indication of how things are like.

The Samoa Conservation Society teamed up with SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) and the Pualele Outrigger Canoe Club to action this initiative. This is part of a regional campaign where SPREP is trying to measure and determine the origin of most of the rubbish or marine litter in the Pacific.

From observations yesterday, most of the rubbish were bottle tops from soft-drinks and beer and cigarette butts. Broken bottles and glass were also very common, as were bits of styrofoam cups and plates that are used for take away food and coffee.

The activity shows that there is a need for a campaign to stop people from discarding their rubbish, however small, on our environment, especially near coastal areas where king-tides are known to occur. These rubbish will end up in the sea and will affect marine life and eventually will affect us. We all want a healthy planet, a healthy Pacific Ocean and healthy communities. For this to occur – it needs to start with us.

Have a great World Oceans Day and we would like to thank all our members that joined us for this event. Look forward to your support and attendance at the Mt Vaea National Park Families & Friends Day this Saturday 13th June, 2015.

World Oceans Day 2015 clean-up at Taumeasina

James Atherton showing some of the rubbish collected

Stuart Young happy collecting rubbish at World Oceans Day!

Trashing it away!

Weighing the rubbish haul from World Oceans Day!

Some of the SCS members volunteering for the World Oceans Day!

Some of the rubbish collected for the World Oceans Day activity

Mel Bradley showing the bottle caps collected. Bottle caps were the most common litter along the beach-front

One of our volunteers recording the various rubbish collected for World Oceans Day