VOLUNTEERS from the Rotaract and Interact clubs of Saipan spent a few hours on Saturday, July 20, cleaning up the Old Man by the Sea beach area.
The two clubs are youth divisions of the Rotary Club of Saipan. Interact is for youths who are 12 to 18 years old while Rotaract is for young adults 18 to 30 years old.
Both clubs collaborated with concerned citizen Brendan Fisher to organize the cleanup.
Fisher wanted to organize a cleanup after he hiked to the beach and witnessed the plastic that had washed up on shore.
According to Rotaract Club of Saipan President Genelyn Camacho, regular beach cleanups are part of their programmatic activities.
“Rotaract’s mission is to raise a generation of young leaders all over the world to make a difference and impact their local communities,” she said. “One of our seven areas of focus is supporting our environment and the other is community development.”
One of the volunteers, Mark Pangelinan, said he was familiar with the solid waste issue present at the site, adding that the amount of plastic on the beach was “a little demoralizing.”
But he said the “solidarity” of working with other young people encouraged him.
“A lot of us have the issue of saying, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person,” but when you find enough like-minded people, you can get a lot done,” he said.
Roy Adsit, a science teacher at Saipan Southern High School, was among the cleanup volunteers. He said the source of the fishing nets and buoys that wash up at Old Man by the Sea is “pretty obvious.”
“What happens is they get dumped at sea, and…some of them end up washed on this beach,” he said.
Part of what makes synthetic fiber fishing nets dangerous is their longevity, he added.
“You got to think if the floats are here where are the nets? The nets are out there killing things. And if it’s a nylon net it’s going to kill things for 200 years. Things are going to die, some more fish are going to come and they’ll get tangled. It’s going to be a big killing machine for hundreds of years,” he said.
As for the other types of plastic waste that washed up at Old Man by the Sea, Adsit said: “All of them slowly degrade from the sunlight and [become] smaller and smaller pieces and enter the food chain and they’re persistent forever. It’s several thousand years before they go away.”
Members of the Interact and Rotaract clubs of Saipan and other community volunteers pose for a photo at the start of the hike that will take them to the Old Man by the Sea on Saturday.
A fishing net is seen entangled at the Old Man by the Sea beach.
With the iconic Old Man overlooking their activities, volunteers clean up the beach area.
Several types of litter are seen on the Old Man by the Sea beach.
The cleanup volunteers included the young — and the very young.
Several volunteers helped clean the Old Man by the Sea on Saturday, July 20.
Cleanup volunteers take a break to pose for a photo.
Two volunteers ensured that the trail was left better than they found it during the beach cleanup on Saturday.
