• Home

One Tonne of Marine Debris Removed from Mina Port

ABU DHABI - More than 400 volunteers collected over a tonne of marine debris during a clean-up campaign organised by the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) on Saturday.

Part of the 12^th National Environment Day celebration, the event this year focused on “Towards the Sustainable Development of our Coasts” theme, so the cleaning up took place in one of the most affected areas of Abu Dhabi city’s coastline, the Mina Port near the Fishermen’s Wharf.

Among the volunteers who showed up early Saturday morning were government and private sector employees, representatives of social centres, students and even fishermen.

In over three hours of intensive work, the volunteers managed to clear 1,131kg of marine debris, including 495kg of plastic, 233kg of waste paper, 89kg of glass, 10kg of wood waste, 155kg of metals and cans, the remaining 149kg being discarded as fishing gear and various other wastes. According to officials these marine debris and litter would have ended up in the sea, harming the fragile biodiversity and affecting swimmers and fishermen’s livelihoods badly.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com