MORE than a tonne of waste including fishing nets, plastic, tyres and even a black magic talisman was cleared by a team of volunteers cleaning Bahrain’s islands and hayrats.
The campaign is being carried out by the Bahrain Diving Volunteer Team (BDVT) and aims to build on the success of the first edition that witnessed the collection of more than 30 tonnes of waste, mostly plastic and fishing waste, from 12 ports and jetties across Bahrain.
Awareness
More than 400 volunteers took part in last year’s campaign with hopes of increasing collaboration, participation and awareness in the second edition of ‘Our Seas Clean’.
It is being supported by the
Supreme Council for Environment, the Marine Monitoring Directorate, and the UN Environment Programme, along with other organisations.
Thirty-one divers took part on the first day of the second campaign which started yesterday.
Around six hours of diving off Mashtan Island, Shaikh Ebrahim Island and Um Jaileed netted the divers more than a tonne of waste, BDVT president Khalid Al Saeed told the GDN.
This was part of the team’s plans to tackle eight islands and two hayrat (sites rich with pearl oysters) during the six-week campaign, which continues until April 4.
“We were surprised to find the large amount of waste on our first day on the cleaning campaign at Mashtan Island, Shaikh Ebrahim Island and Um Jaileed,” he said.
“It was a shock to us even
though we had put a military-like plan to successfully place divers in a unified line to collect large amounts of waste.
“We found three large truck tyres each needing five divers to move them.
“We also found 35 birds and seagulls dead from eating plastic and some were dead from natural causes.
“We were also shocked to find a black magic talisman on Shaikh Ebrahim Island, which was our first time to witness such a thing.
“It contained writing and objects which were tied to each other.
“All this waste affects the environment and marine life in a negative way.
“We spent around six hours using four boats and collected more than a tonne of waste.”
The cleaning operations will continue off Al Dar Island on February 29, Jarada Island on March 7 and on March 14 the team plans to tackle three islands named Bosh Islands.
Then the team will clean Najwat Bulthama on March 28 and Hayr Shtaya on April 4.
noorz@gdn.com.bh
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