World Ocean Day rallies volunteers to clean up coast lines
Posted June 8, 2021 12:10 pm.
Last Updated June 8, 2021 12:15 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The perils of overfishing and plastic pollution are in the spotlight as people around the world take part in World Ocean Day.
Beach cleanups and teaching events are happening worldwide Tuesday as part of an annual effort to raise awareness about the state of the ocean.
One of the several events going on in B.C. is a volunteer cleanup of Britannia Beach in Squamish, organized by Jeff Williamson.
He’s chosen to clean up the Britannia Beach for several years now and says, from his experience, “it’s a beach that typically sees a lot of garbage pile up there.”
One of their past cleanups removed about 450 pounds of garbage from the beach in just three hours.
“The number one thing that I pull off these beaches are cigarette butts in 2021, which the filters contain microplastics,” he says.
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Plastic bags, bottles, and masks also get broken down on the beaches and re-enter the water, where they’re consumed by wildlife, Williamson adds.
“A combination of sun and friction from the water breaks down plastic items that are left on the beaches into what are called microplastics,” he explains. “Those get washed out into the oceans. They are then ingested by fish and marine-going animals. So the increase in plastic, namely plastic bags, bottles, straws — these are the main cause of damage to our beaches — but also PPE, masks and other disposable things that are related to the pandemic.”
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Beach cleanups are made up of concerned citizens offering their time to clean up coastlines around the world. Williamson says these volunteers are making waves by improving the coastal and oceanic East Coast system by ensuring it minimizes the impact on the marine life cycle by keeping garbage from infiltrating.
“Every year, about 18 billion pounds of plastic flow into the ocean systems according to a National Geographic report. So the effects of this obviously on a global scale have been enormous.
“Scientists report about 700 marine species facing serious difficulties due to this plastic pollution. This includes everything from fish, to sharks, to cetaceans, seabirds, everything. So our oceans are filled with so much plastic trash, it’s estimated they will contain more plastic than fish by about the year 2050.”
If that’s hard for people to imagine the predictions, he says to consider thinking plastic is going into the ocean at an expedited rate, while fish are being taken out of the ocean at an expedited rate.
“That’s the fuel demand. So it’s really just a matter of time before the two intersect and then you have a shift in the balance the numbers that swing the other way.”
World Ocean Day is a made-in-Canada idea, proposed in 1992.
To learn more about World Ocean Day and how to participate, head to World Ocean Day’s website.
