On the first 4 days of the clean-up, more than 2 tons of marine debris has been collected from the beaches of Alphonse, Astove, Coetivy, Desroches, Farquhar, Platte, Poivre and Remire.
Some 40 volunteers comprising of IDC staff, NGO The Ocean Project Seychelles, Health professionals as well as some other individuals are picking up, sorting and weighing the debris collected from the sea shore.
This clean up operation is also part of a survey by the NGO to learn more about the impact of marine pollution in Seychelles. The Ocean Project which was established in November 2016 in response to the global issue of marine plastic pollution affecting the Seychelles with a mission to tackle the problem through education, action and research.
This is the first such exercise for the outer islands. The Chairperson of the IDC Board of Directors, Mr. Patrick Berlouis, who is leading the team of volunteers on Coetivy describes as saddening that people in some parts of the world are using the ocean to dispose of their rubbish. He notes that this exercise is just a small step which will hopefully go a long way in educating people about the ocean and the need to protect it.
The trend is similar on all the islands. Flip flops, pet and glass bottles, cigarette lighters, tube light and styrofoams boxes are topping the list of debris collected.
Large number of Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD), ropes, buoys and nets from fishing vessels are also making it to the shores.