THIS Saturday, June 3, the Division of Coastal Resources Management begins a series of activities celebrating CNMI Ocean Month with a Saipan beach cleanup, a coastal event that spans four locations across the island.
DCRM’s Ocean Month Chair Colleen Flores said beginning at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, members of the public can show up at either Wing Beach, Garapan Fishing Base, Coral Ocean Point or Marine Beach.
“We decided to have four locations in order to accommodate volunteers who would prefer to join a cleanup location nearer to them,” Flores said.
Cleanup supplies, trash relocation, and drinking water will be provided by DCRM, she added. Volunteers are encouraged to show up with reusable water containers, sunscreen, and other protective clothing.
“By participating in this Saturday’s cleanup, community members are not only beautifying our island’s coastal areas, but also becoming active environmental stewards by preventing thousands of pounds of trash from entering our ocean and waterways,” Flores told Variety.
She said CNMI Ocean Month is DCRM’s effort to raise “community awareness of the importance and significance of our ocean, and to promote active environmental stewardship.”
She said in past coastal cleanups, single-use plastics were a huge problem coming from a tiny source: cigarette butts.
“Although cigarette butts are quite small, and many may think it does no harm, the problem is they are everywhere,” Flores said, adding that most cigarette butts are made from cellulose acetate, a kind of plastic.
Other than cigarette butts, Flores said the usual culprits collected at coastal cleanups include other single-use plastics like food wrappers, bottle caps, cutlery, bags, take-out containers, and more.
Besides the Saipan beach cleanup, DCRM will also hold Ocean Month Challenges, a sand castle building competition, two movie nights, an upcycling workshop and more. More details are available at dcrm.gov.mp/.
The highlights of CNMI Ocean Month are the Tinian Ocean Fair, scheduled for June 10, and the Saipan Ocean Fair scheduled for June 17.
Flores said at both ocean fairs, there will be educational outreach booths from environmental agencies as well as a variety of water activities like snorkeling, swimming lessons, canoe sailing, and fishing lessons.
For questions, Colleen Flores can be reached at cflores@dcrm.gov.mp. DCRM’s phone number is (670) 664-8300.
