By STAFF WRITER, Nassau Guardian

Hundreds of local volunteers from all walks of life recently participated in the National Coastal Awareness Beach Clean Up to clear Yamacraw Beach of an overwhelming amount of trash.

The volunteers teamed-up at Yamacraw Beach behind Stoke's Cabana to clear the coast of 21,007 items of debris.

"During Coastal Awareness Month we are holding a number of events such as the beach clean and the harbor clean up that took place recently to educate the public about littering," said Jared Dillet, of the Department of Marine Resources and Chair of the National Coastal Awareness Beach Clean Up Committee. "We hope that by shedding light on the amount of debris we found and educating the public about the severe negative effects it causes to our environment, our health, and our livelihoods, it will create change."

The Coastal Awareness Committee of The Bahamas, a group of stake holders from the private and public sectors with an interest in promoting the sustainable development of The Bahamas, hosted the clean-up as part of their month-long activities designed to educate the public about the importance of preserving our coast.

After hours cleaning-up the beach, volunteers sorted their refuse by type and wrote down their findings on detailed data cards which will be submitted to the Ocean Conservancy by Dolphin Encounters Project B.E.A.C.H. to help them continue to track common types of litter and try to prevent these items from ending up on our beaches in the future.

"The results of the four hour clean-up are tremendous," said Sophia Smith, a member of the Education Department at Dolphin Encounters who helped to run the clean up.

"In four hours we collected 21,007 items of debris that contained 2,672 plastic bags, 3,285 glass bottles and 2,830 cans. Unfortunately, these items do not break down in our environment and have a very long life. It takes more than 250 years for a soda can to break down and there is no known time for glass, so these items, literally thousands of them, would have remained here for many generations had we not removed them."

Volunteers worked tirelessly to remove the trash and commented on what they found littered on and around Yamacraw Beach.

"We found paper plates, candy wrappers, bottles and cans that people just left and did not care about the environment," said Cameron Foster, a 10th grade student at Nassau Christian Academy, who participated with the Governor General Youth Award Program. "You shouldn't ever dump things at the beach and those that did should stop."

Senator Claire L. Hepburn, attorney general of The Bahamas, who along with her organization, the T.A.R.A. Project, which is part of The Tara Xavier Hepburn Foundation, participated in the beach clean up, and saw the activity as a tremendous learning opportunity. "Having our children participate is important. It teaches them about our environment and shows them that they have a real role to play in protecting it."

Jackie Lightbourne, a member of the G.G.Y.A. Gold Award Holder Association, also agreed that having the youth participate was important. "It gave them a sense of some of the challenges we face in the environment and make them aware that we all must be a part of the solution."

John Barnett a fisherman who took part in the clean up along with his son, Ashwan, was compelled to participate in a community event for the coast. "I like to do community work that is connected to what I do. As a fisherman, I see the debris all over the reefs, it is where I dive and it has to be stopped. It's killing our marine life and affecting the fish."

There are five main threats that affect coastlines — pollution, invasive species, climate change, overfishing and habitat destruction. One of the biggest problems to threaten our Bahamian coasts is trash.

Coastal Awareness Committee has hosted, in collaboration with its strategic partners both in the public and private sectors a harbor clean up, a marine exhibition, a national school photo/essay competition; and field trips to Dolphin Encounters on Blue Lagoon Island and Dive Stuart Cove to provide students with an opportunity to learn about protecting the coasts and enjoy the marine wonders of The Bahamas.

As this is a national initiative, beach clean-ups and other coastal awareness activities are planned for the islands of Abaco, Andros, Bimini, Eleuthera, Exuma and San Salvador.

"All beneficiaries of the tourism industry must take an interest and active role in conserving the resources of this vital industry, particularly in growing small island developing states like The Bahamas," adds Mr. McPhee. "We thank all those corporate sponsors who contributed to this worthwhile effort. We are all in this together and as our motto states: If not us, who? If not now when?

Sponsored by The Department of Marine Resources, The Bahamas National Trust, The Department of Environmental Health Services, Dolphin Encounters, the Ministry of Tourism, BREEF, The Nature Conservancy, The Bahamas Hotel Association, the BEST Commission, and Nautilus, the beach clean up was held as part of National Coastal Awareness Month.

Governor General Youth Award Program participants from Doris Johnson High School, Aquinas, C.I. Gibson, St John's College, R.M. Bailey, Mt. Carmel, C.C. Sweeting and The College of the Bahamas; members of the Tara Xavier Hepburn Foundation's T.A.R.A. Project, employees of CLICO; The Rotary Club of East Nassau, and volunteers from the general public and the surrounding community took part in the event by participating in a Beach Buddies program.