The Benguela Current Convention (BCC) under the flagship of the Department of Environment Fisheries and Forestry’s (DEFF) have partnered with Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) and the Overstrand Municipality hosted a beach clean-up on Romansbaai beach in the Gansbaai area on the 18th of December.
A Clean Ocean My Responsibility
The event hosted 80 students from the schools of Masakhane and Blompark, and they were joined by the learners of the Overberg Eco Rangers and representatives from BCC, DEFF, DICT and Overstrand Municipality. The theme for the event for 2020 is “A Clean Ocean My Responsibility”.
Litter has a harmful impact on marine life in several ways such as entanglement and ingestion. However, more and more people around the world are coming together to combat marine litter. To be a good citizen and take responsibility we can and should:
– Reduce the use of single-use plastics
– Recycle
– Participate in (or organize) a beach or river clean-up
– Spread the word
– Support organizations addressing plastic pollution
– Encourage manufactures to make the necessary packaging changes
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust, together with our conservation partners, have three key marine pollution projects: beach clean ups, fishing line bins, and storm drain catchment nets.
Educator Pinkey Ngewu co-ordinated the event and said, “It should be a top priority for all of us to clean the ocean — because the ocean is the lifeblood of our Earth.”
The event was an overall success and kids received youth and ocean t-shirts goodie bags sponsored by Benguela Current Convention. We collected 27 bags of litter. The top offenders collected were beer bottles, cigarette buts and lollipop sticks.
Benguela Current Convention
The Benguela Current Convention (BCC) is a formal treaty, signed in 2013, between the governments of Angola, Namibia and South Africa that sets out the countries’ intention “to promote a coordinated regional approach to the long-term conservation, protection, rehabilitation, enhancement and sustainable use of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, to provide economic, environmental and social benefits.
