Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

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Annex 4Submitted abstracts accompanyingposter presentationsare harassed. The support of children is essential, theyencourage people to collaborate in gathering trashalong the beach. Last summer, the presence of Clown“Gingko Biloba” was key to reaching more children andadults, making the cleaning amusing, more fun andsymbolic. Among the challenges faced are reaching asmany beaches as possible; cleaning all the area andpromoting awareness, including beach hostels in thecampaign with their customers and their own waste.Also recruiting more volunteers who have previouslybeen trained. The enormous impact that waste hason the coast and later on marine animals has beenshown by a sample collected on one of the beachesby 6 volunteers during 3 hours; what predominatedwere: plastic bags, fishing nets, and also cigarette ends(totalling 3.284), micro waste like popsicle sticks, bottlecaps and straws, bottles, plastic cups, string, wireand plastic coated paper,. We collected about 70kg ofgarbage in a single morning. The marine animals mainlyaffected are 5 species of turtles and some seabirdsbecause of plastics. Local stakeholders are: La PalomaCouncil, Local Board of Punta del Diablo, Las BoyasHostel, Point G Artisan Gelato, CLEAN UP OCEANCONSERVANCY-ECOPLATADINAMA-MVOTMA*. As forcleanup recommendations: begin the campaign ahead,through all means possible; during the summer, start inthe morning or late in the day due to the sun’s intensity;require participants to bring sunscreen and hat; provideplenty of fresh water (one person must be responsible forits distribution); have a protocol for volunteers on wastecollection and materials; enable them to manage thepayroll and data collection, including group organization(team leader and collectors). As the waste counting isreported by the collector to the person who takes data,it is vital that each data collector scorer is very wellacquainted with the form. Coordination with the localcouncil is important for the removal of the bags anddisposal. Participation and commitment of the localauthorities is essential for the public policies incidenceon this topic.Marine Debris Management and Recycling Project:Watamu, KenyaSteve TrottWatamu Marine AssociationWatamu, Kenyastevetrott@watamu.bizwww.watamu.bizThe PlaceThe Project area is part of Kenya’s first National MarinePark and a UNESCO recognised Biosphere Reserve.The Park and Reserve harbour rich marine habitatsincluding: coral reefs, sea grass meadows, mangroveforest and more than 600 species of fish. Five species ofendangered sea turtle are found in the local waters alongwith Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphinsand humpback whales that are resident in the area ormigrate through its waters.The ProblemA serious problem related to both solid and soft plasticwaste is the threat to marine life. Plastic bags andmaterials are ingested by sea turtles mistaking them forjellyfish which are part of their natural diet. Each yearendangered sea turtles are washed ashore in Watamusuffering from plastic ingestion. Most of the turtleseventually die due to internal problems and starvationthrough gut blockage. Discarded and lost fishing gearspose a further threat through entanglement not just tosea turtles but to dolphins, whales and other marine life.The SolutionTo tackle the problem of plastic and other marinedebris the Project was set up in 2009 as a communityenterprise and is substantially reducing the amount ofwaste that impacts directly on the health and biodiversityof the marine environment. This is made possible bycarrying out weekly beach clean ups which stops there-entry of these waste materials into the sea. Thisnot only has measurable conservation results but alsoencourages tourists to visit the beaches and therebyboosting the local economy. All plastic waste collectedfrom the beaches is recycled and sold and the incomegenerated helps the initiative to remain operational andsustainable. Rubber waste, ropes, fishing nets and otherentanglement materials collected are used by local artiststo create unique marine debris artwork which is marketedin local hotel boutiques.50
Annex 4Submitted abstracts accompanyingposter presentationsPartnershipsThe Watamu Marine Association manages andcoordinates all Project operations and provides in kindsupport for Project activities. Project partners includelocal community women and youth groups and privatehotels and resorts. These partners provide wastecollectors to clean the beaches, vehicles for wasteremoval, sponsorship and fundraising support for theProject. This support provides part time employment for40 local community members to carry out weekly beachclean ups.Project SuccessThe main key to success of the Project is the cooperationbetween community organisations and the localmarine tourism industry in creating a plastic recyclingvalue chain. The results are cleaned-up beaches andemployment opportunities in poor communities. Byturning plastic pollution into profit creates a win winsituation for marine life, coastal communities and thetourism industry.The FutureIn 2011 the Project was recognised by UNEP andreceived a SEED Award for entrepreneurship and thepotential of the Project to inspire other communities.By combining environmental welfare and conservationefforts with community empowerment, employmentand alternative income generation, the initiative setsan example for successful community based marinedebris management.Fishing For Litter: The voluntary removal of marinedebris by the fishing fleetTom PiperKommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon (KIMO)www.fishingforlitter.orgtom.piper@kimo.shetland.orgFishing for Litter is an environmental project, undertakenby KIMO in Scotland, The Netherlands, South WestEngland, Isle of Man, Sweden and the Faeroe Islands,designed to engage the fishing industry to reducethe amount of marine litter in our seas by physicallyremoving it and improve waste management practicesin the fishing industry.Fishing for litter is a simple idea, participating vesselsare given hardwearing bags to collect marine litterthat is caught in their nets as part of their normalfishing activity. Full bags are deposited on the quaysidewhere the participating harbours move the bag to adedicated skip for disposal. The project provides thebags and covers the waste costs and the fishermen andharbours volunteer their time.There have been two big challenges to the project i)securing enough funding on tough economic times. Thecost of waste collection and disposal is high and in theEurope the associated taxes are always increasing todeter the generation of waste. The project is unfairly hitby these taxes as we do not generate waste we cleanup other peoples waste. KIMO continues to lobby foran exemption. And ii) In the first years of the projectit took patience to gain the endorsement of fisheriesorganisations. Harbours always saw the benefits of theproject and they helped validate the project. A healthy PRbudget at the beginning of the project helped the projectestablish as normal practice in the industry and now allaspects of the sector recognise the importance of theproject and support its development.While monitoring has always been a secondary aspect ofthe project it is one of the few activities that gives an ideaof the types of litter that end up on the seabed (morethan 50% plastic) and we are currently piloting improveddata collection procedures with some vessels to seeif we can provide information that can be fed intoscientific models.51
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Page 8 and 9: 3Overview of the Untangled sessions
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