International Coastal Clean-up Day 2019

Indian Coast Guard (East) , TREE Foundation and Roots & Shoots India, Chennai organised the International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICC) Day on 21-September-2019. International Coastal Clean-up Day is celebrated world over to instil a sense of responsibility among general public on the problem of garbage dumped into the sea and its effects on marine life. As TREE Foundation is inspired and guided by Dr. Jane Goodall the UN Messenger for Peace, a Giant Peace Dove was displayed to commemorate the U.N. Peace Day. In the presence of the Chief Guest Inspector General S. Paramesh, PTM, TM, Commander Indian Coast Guard (Region East), Shri Shreevats Sanjay, Deputy Director General & Regional Director South, India Tourism, Dr. Supraja Dharini, TREE Foundation Chairperson, Dr. Bala Murugan, VIT, Dr. Captain R.K. Kumar, AMET, Prof. S.S. Ojha, Allahabad University and volunteers of various institutions motivated the participants.This year during the turtle nesting season, 5 turtles with entangled ghost nets stranded on the beach with around 5-10 kgs of net entangled around their flippers, 4 of them had lost their flippers due to the entanglement. General S. Paramesh, PTM, TM, Commander Indian Coast Guard (Region East), spoke on how Sea turtles. Shri Shreevats Sanjay, Deputy Director General & Regional Director South, India Tourism insisted that more awareness and knowledge should be inculcated among children to ensure that they all understand that “We should protect our oceans, in order to protect our future”. Dr. Supraja Dharini, TREE Foundation Chairperson, discussed with the participants about the dangers of plastic in the ocean, ‘Floating in the ocean, a plastic bag looks a lot like a jellyfish to a sea turtle and marine mammal, which is one of their favourite foods. And the chilling fact is that they can choke on these bags or starve to death with stomachs filled with plastic. In order to bring the much-needed attention to the damage, tons of wastage and millions of single-use plastic bags does to the marine wildlife and the environment this clean-up is conducted each year’. TREE Foundation’s Sea Turtle Protection Force (STFP) members and community volunteers of (17) coastal villages along with TREE Roots & Shoots members of about 692 members, also cleaned up their respective beaches.