June was designated as Ocean Month at a proclamation signing ceremony led by Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan on Wednesday, June 4.
JUNE was designated as Ocean Month during a proclamation signing ceremony at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan on Wednesday, June 4.
As part of the month-long festivities, the Division of Coastal Resources Management will host movie night at 6 p.m. at San Isidro Beach Park in Chalan Kanoa on June 6. Another movie night will be held on June 20 at the Carolinian Utt at 6 p.m.
For its part, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality will host the 32nd Pacific Island Environmental Training Symposium from June 9 to 13.
In addition, Ocean Fairs will be hosted on Tinian, Rota, and Saipan on June 14, 21, and 28, respectively.
This year’s Ocean Month theme is “Sailing Together Towards a Sustainable Future.”
Saipan Mayor RB Camacho, speaking at the event, said: “I strongly believe that we’re all stronger if we work together as a government entity. Our mission is to serve. As mayor, I want to [work] with all the regulatory agencies here. Bear in mind, we only have two major resources on our island: the water and the land.”
He added, “As your mayor, I’m embracing all ethnic communities to combat all these problems we are facing with illegal dumping, both in land and water.”
Camacho said his favorite beach on the island, San Antonio, is not spared from littering, adding that education can help address the issue.
“Guess what my grandkids are picking up? Beer bottles [at the beach] and I know for a fact that there’s nobody selling beer [there]. But what are those bottles doing [there]? We need to start educating our people. Let’s all work together to promote a safe community, safe village and a clean island,” the mayor said.
For his part, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said the ocean is “what sustains us.”
“[The ocean] is part of our DNA,” he added. “It’s part of us. We’re not born on a big continent. We’re islanders, and being an islander, you turn left, you see the ocean; you turn right, you see the ocean. So you grow up and your life is the ocean.”
The proclamation, which the governor signed, stated that the CNMI is home to “rich marine biodiversity and ecosystems that sustain livelihoods, protect coastlines, drive tourism and offer cultural and recreational opportunities.”
Threats that the ocean environment faces locally include pollution, unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, coastal erosion, vessel groundings, sedimentation run off, and more.
