Two diving teams and close to 90 volunteers collected 943 pounds of plastic waste from the coastline of East Portland for International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICC) 2019 on Saturday.

Spearheaded by the Alligator Head Foundation, the clean-up initiative saw volunteers from the Peace Corps Jamaica, HEART Trust/NTA, National Youth Service (NYS), Scotiabank as well as community members in and around Port Antonio chipping in for a valiant three-hour effort.

View this post on Instagram The Foundation would like to thank the 102 volunteers that came out today to celebrate ICC 2019. With your help and the support of our sponsors @jamentrust1991 @oceanconservancy @lifespanspringwater @DBGprinting @coronationbakery @DIBhardware and the @portlandmunicipalcorportation We removed 943lbs of garbage from East Portland’s coastline #icc2019 #alligatorheadfoundation #beachcleanup #volunteereffort #conservation thank you @fstopmovies for the underwater photosA post shared by Alligator Head Foundation (@alligatorheadfoundation) on Sep 21, 2019 at 3:07pm PDT

The conservation effort went full circle, as escovitched lionfish was deliciously served after volunteers cleaned the beach and wider coast.

Scope of the East Portland clean-up

Manager for the East Portland Fish Sanctuary Joshua Bailey told BUZZ that over 120 bags of plastic and glass bottles, miscellaneous food containers and other items – even discarded tires were collected during the clean-up exercise.

“[Saturday] has been an amazing effort. We’ve had Lady G divers, they provided an extra boat for the [beachfront] clean-up. So, it was a team of about 15 divers underwater participating, and we had our land clean-up, which boasted about 85 volunteers,” he explained.

The underwater aspect of the clean-up was targeted at the Blue Lagoon and adjacent to the coastline, overlooking the Port Antonio Craft Market village, which was where the land-based activity was largely focused.

Bailey further explained that Jamaica’s

participation in International Coastal Clean-up Day comes through a coalition

between the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and the Ocean Conservancy Group.

“It’s an amazing initiative, it’s a worldwide event and we’re playing our part. What this event hopes to achieve primarily is environmental activism from community members. That’s what we want to achieve here in East Portland; to get more individuals out, actively protecting the environment and seeing the importance of [doing so],” the sanctuary manager told BUZZ.

“The second part of it is to collect the data, so we can look into what types of garbage are seriously affecting our coastline. Then, we can push lobbies to the government or present statistics to show how we can better improve our consumerism,” Bailey added.

Plastic ban paying dividends

Already, Bailey noted that this year, clean-up

activities have seen a marked reduction in the number of plastic bags and Styrofoam

products reaching the sea, so from an initial standpoint the plastic ban implemented

on January 1, is showing some benefits to the coastline.

“Every year, we collect data to see what the most popular type of garbage is here so that we get an idea of what’s happening. We’ve been doing this for the last four years and thus far we’re still seeing a high number of plastic bottles [but] we’ve seen a significant reduction in Styrofoam and plastic bags, and I think that is highly due to the ban,” Bailey asserted.

“We are currently implementing new monitoring activities. One of those is identifying the state of our reefs, not just here in east Portland but across the island. There are 18 designated fish sanctuaries in Jamaica. If we continue to use data to inform our policies and action, then we can continue to see a reduction in the amounts and types of waste that come down to our shorelines,” he contended.

Please, let’s take care of Jamaica

Bailey encouraged Jamaicans to pay more attention to the plight of the environment, and where possible, reduce their impact on our natural resources. The sanctuary manager told BUZZ that if only for the selfish reason of enjoying our world-famous beaches, we must do more to protect them.

“If for nothing else but our own enjoyment of our island, we need to protect it and take care of it. As a Jamaican, I love being outdoors, and I’ve been quite disappointed going to various sights all around Jamaica and seeing garbage,” Bailey argued.

“Additionally, most people in Jamaica either know someone or are directly involved in the tourism industry. If we want to continue to make money from our natural resources then we have to protect them,” he told BUZZ.

Check out more highlights from the Alligator Head Foundation’s part in ICCD 2019 in the BUZZ gallery below:

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[naviga:li]Photo: David Lee, f-Stop Movies[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: Shaquiel Brooks[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: Shaquiel Brooks[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: Shaquiel Brooks[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: David Lee, f-Stop Movies[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: Shaqiuel Brooks[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Photo: David Lee, f-Stop Movies[/naviga:li]

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