A beach-clean-up which means picking up trash on the beach is to respect marine wildlife’s rights to subsistence and allow each of them to remain safe from pollution. It also leaves a great example to others on how to reduce ocean waste and enable our earth to exist forever.

　　　　　　　　　　（Photos in below are taken by our team members.）

Like cleaning up the mountains, taking part in a beach clean-up is important because it can keep the oceans healthy. As we know, waste such as disposable tableware, Styrofoam, bottles, plastic bags, and the like, called ocean trash or ocean waste, are produced by humans either intentionally or unintentionally. These kinds of ocean waste cause very serious injury to our environment. For example, some marine animals or wildlife may mistakenly eat the waste and die and some may stifle, cannot take a breath, and die. They die because of resulting in suffocating in obstruction of the offal.

　　　　　　　　　　（Photos in below are taken by our team members.）

In fact, the trash-induced marine pollution has been a subject for years according to the organization of Ocean Conservancy whose staff also established the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). For example, citing ICC, in the past 25 years, more than 144,606,491 pounds of trash has been collected from beaches world-wide from Alaska to New Zealand. As to Taiwan’s beaches, the ICC stated that the pollution is getting severe. ICC said, “76% of all trash collected from Taiwan’s beaches was caused by shoreline and recreational activities.” Being aware of it, the Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation, based in Hualien, eastern Taiwan, started the movement of the Beach-clean-ups in 2000. Recently the governments participate in it annually or at aperiodically. Protecting the earth like cleaning up the beach cannot just depend on a person or an organization; instead, it needs your and my efforts.

　　Caution for Doing Beach-clean-ups

　　Some caution for doing beach-clean-ups especially should be taken, according to ICC.

1. Wear gloves and shoes that can wrap up the feet in order not to be stung or wounded by sharp objects.
2. Watch out for broken glass, hypodermic needles, or other hazardous waste.
3. Keep away from the wave and pay attention to the change of the tidewater at any time.
4. Do not lift or clean up anything too heavy or too huge.
5. Avoid trampling the plant on the seashore or the sand dune area.
6. Avoid suspected hazardous substances or areas where herbicides were recently applied.
7. Avoid areas where snakes, fire ants, jellyfish, crabs or other dangerous species may be located.
8. Do not attempt to handle injured marine animals/birds.