Sri Vijaya Puram, Sept 22: Beach clean-up is the process of removal of marine litter (plastics, metal, glass, cloth, rubber) and other organic debris (paper, wood) deposited on the beach (backshore/intertidal) by human activities (tourism/recreational), or offshore backwash. Marine litter originates from land and sea-based sources and causes a wide spectrum of environmental, economic, health, and aesthetic impacts. Beach clean-up activities are important to mitigate the transfer of litter through windage effect into the oceans. Clean-up also provides ample opportunity to gather important data about the state of our coasts, type, and probable litter sources that pollute them. Such information is critical in developing management plans and other mitigation measures.
As part of the regular coastal clean-up activity of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India, the Atal Centre for Ocean Science and Technology for Islands (ACOSTI), a field unit of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) organized a cleanliness drive at Rangachang Beach on the occasion of the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day 2024. The celebration created awareness among local youths, the public, and officials about the ‘Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar/Clean Coast Safe Sea’ campaign of Govt. of India. The goals for the 2024 ICC Day include raising environmental awareness, identifying the sources of debris, developing solutions to the marine debris problem, and promoting behavioral changes to reduce trash in the water through a program message of ‘3R’ (reduce, reuse, and recycle). As the Government of India has already committed to phasing out the identified single-use Plastics (SUPs), the data will serve as a ground truth validation and will help enhance the National Marine Litter Policy drafted by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), MoES, Govt. of India.
At Rangachang Beach, Panchayat members, officers and staff from NIOT-ACOSTI& Botanical Survey of India (BSI), participated in the International Coastal Clean-up campaign today. The inauguration program was presided over by Mr. Abhishek Bhukal, Joint Secretary (SVPMC) & Director (Science &Technology and Industries), Dr. Lal Singh, Additional Director and Regional Head, BSI, Mr. R Paramasivam, Pradhan, (Beodnabad), and Dr. Dilip Kumar Jha, Officer-In-Charge, NIOT-ACOSTI, also participated in the inaugural ceremony.
During the function, Mr. Abhishek Bhukal as the chief guest, emphasized the importance of community involvement and the segregation of waste into various categories like dry, wet, medical, hazardous, etc. for better waste management and keeping the coast clean. He also appreciated the initiatives taken by the NIOT-ACOSTI to conduct such a program with community involvement, research organization, and A&N Administration. A total of 85 volunteers participated and segregated the marine litter (215.6 kg) and handed it over to the local Panchayat for proper disposal. Certificates were distributed among the volunteers for their active participation.
