MADURAI: The World Ocean Day on June 8th 2024 which was taken up as a beach cleanup activity by the Department of Marine and Coastal Studies of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in Madurai has given some shocking data.
“Cleanup data at beach and awareness programme on beach cleanup to mark the annual World Ocean Day event was conducted at Pudumadam Beach-Gulf of Mannar in Ramanathapuram district today-June 8th 2024, to create awareness about human actions on the ocean. The data analysis of cleanup has revealed that there is a huge composition of various marine debris along the coasts and beaches. Plastic bottles, plastic wrappers, glass bottles etc are still a major threat in the coasts and beaches and this is the finding today,” an important press statement received from MKU today has alerted.
PLASTIC IMPACT ON MARINE LIFE:
The beach cleanup activity was undertaken by Department of Marine and Coastal Studies, School of Energy-Environment and Natural Resources of MKU, along the Gulf of Mannar Pudumadam beach on June 8th 2024, which was organized by Dr.M.Anand, Coordinator of Beach Cleanup Activity from MKU and it was inaugurated by MKU Syndicate Member Prof.Dr.S.Kannan, the press release added.
Dr.S.Kannan spoke on the impact of microplastics on marine life and he urged the students to segregate biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste at home itself.
Dr.C.Anand, Assistant Professor, Directorate of Sustainable Aquaculture, Tamil Nadu Dr.Dr.J.Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, delivered awareness lecture on coastal cleanliness while Ms.H.Noorul Samsoon Maharifa, assistant professor and Head, Thassim Beevi Abdul Kader College for Arts and Science for Women, offered her felicitations for the beach cleanup event in which 120 volunteers had participated, the press release from MKU said.
Institutions from where students took part include Thassim Beevi Abdul Kader College for Arts and Science for Women in Ramanathapuram, Velu Manoharan Arts and Science College for Women in Ramanathapuram, Sethupathy Govt Arts and Science College in Ramanathapuram and Department of Marine and Coastal Studies, MKU.
“Most of the debris in beach are plastic bottles and plastic wrappers which come to 55 per cent of the debris followed by glass bottles 20 per cent, and others include cigarette buds, bottle caps, straws, nets etc which come to the remaining 25 per cent of beach coastal debris. Recyclable things like paper are very few as per the data analysis. The district administration should enforce strict laws for tourists coming to Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu to make beaches trash free,” the MKU team has appealed from Madurai today.
