Muscat: A huge amount of waste and abandoned fishing nets were recovered from the Damaniyat Islands Nature Reserve (DINR) during a beach and coral reef clean up carried out by the Environment Society of Oman (ESO).
The three-day anti-littering campaign, funded by Oman Sail, was held last weekend in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), the Coastal Guards, the Royal Navy and four local dive centres worked together to clean up the beaches and coral reefs.
The project aim was reducing litter that negatively affects the fragile environment.
A total of 30 local volunteers from Oman Sail, Hud-Hud travel and ESO Islands spent the day collecting waste from the beaches of Jabal Al Kabeer, Kharaba and Joon.
The waste was segregated during the clean-up and volunteers used yellow, black and white bags for plastics and cans, general waste and steel and metal. Plastic was the most common type of waste that was obviously been left behind by picnickers or campers.
The waste collected from the beach clean-up was then gathered in coordination with local fishermen and the Municipality of Barka.
Around 200kg of waste was taken from each Island, bringing a total 600kg from all three locations! Around 200kg of nets were recovered from the sea, along with several old fishing traps. It has been reported that fresh nets were dropped at the DINR while the clean-up was taking place. The locations cleaned were: Hayut Run, Black Tip Reef, Aquarium and Sira Island.
In order to make sure that the project is sustainable, ESO in cooperation with MECA have arranged for a total of 10 awareness signs to be deployed on four Islands namely, Jebel Al Kabeer, Joon, Al Kharabah and Al Qismah in order to make sure that visitors maintain the cleanliness of the beaches and coastlines.
"It is very important for these signs to be placed on the Islands in order to make visitors aware that they too have a responsibility to keep the Islands and surrounding waters free of litter" said Sayyida Tania Al Saeed, President of ESO. The signs will be informative containing details of wildlife residing in the area and awareness messages for anti-littering.
Environment Society of Oman is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization founded in March 2004 by Omanis representing different regions and many different professional backgrounds. Membership is open to anyone above the age of 18 who has an interest in conserving the environment and ensuring that Oman's natural heritage remains intact for future generations to enjoy.
