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MINA, Kagman High clean Micro Beach
The Micronesia Islands Nature Alliance conducted a cleanup around Saipan to promote and maintain the recycling culture last Oct. 15 at Micro Beach.
MINA and Kagman High School coordinated with one another to clean up an area of Micro Beach, which then proceeded to a presentation made by a MINA Program coordinator Jolly Cruz who talked about marine debris.
“I don’t think this is just important for the community. I think this is important for the whole world, because the stuff that we do on land will eventually affect the living things in the ocean, and the ocean is one of our food sources. We eat what is in there,” said Cruz.
The concept of marine debris was thoroughly explained to the students.
“Marine debris; what it is, what the sources are, what the effects are, what the damage it can do to the environment, and some of the things that we can do as individuals to help prevent marine debris [were part of the presentation],” said Cruz.
Cruz explained that the land and sea are connected, and what humans do to the land eventually makes its way to the ocean.
“We are damaging one of our food sources, and as humans in general, we should be concerned about where we are putting our trash, where our trash goes, and what happens to our trash. We don’t want trash to end up in our stomachs,” said Cruz. “Some people don’t understand that marine debris is stuff that can be intentional, non-intentional, accidental, or caused by a natural disaster.”
MINA’s project Marine Debris is a campaign that builds and maintains the recycling culture here in the CNMI to prevent marine debris from Saipan’s waters.
MINA has been doing cleanups for the marine debris program at least twice a month, partnering with both educational institutions and parts of the private sector.
