In response to the Executive Yuan's Tribute to the Sea and World Ocean Day, the 9th River Management Office of the Water Resources Agency held a lecture on sea cleaning knowledge and a beach cleaning event at Hualien's Chisingtan waters on the 20th. More than 20 local businesses, volunteers for flood prevention and water protection and teams of water environment patrollers, a total of more than 150 people, participated enthusiastically in the event.
In the morning, researcher Guozhen Zhang from the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology was invited to give a lecture on ICC beach cleanup, how to see the full picture of garbage from the data and understand the impact of marine waste on the environment and in the afternoon, a beach cleanup was carried out in the Chisingtan waters. In spite of the intense sunlight, everyone managed to remove hundreds of PET bottles, 150 glass bottles and 37.5 kgs of trash. It is advantageous to reduce the amount of waste at the source later by being aware of the different types of waste along the coast.
Commissioner Ming-Chang Hsieh said that Hualien's coastline is more than 140 kilometers long and with the influence of topography and ocean currents, marine debris can easily accumulate here and damage the scenery. We are grateful to all sectors of the community for taking marine waste seriously and for joining in this beach cleanup event to keep the coastline clean and protect the beauty of Hualien's coast, supporting the government policy of "know the sea, clean the sea, be near the sea and enter the sea."
Commissioner Hsieh further explained that the 9th River Management Office has continued to implement the Executive Yuan's policy of paying tribute to the sea since 2020, combining public and private organizations, local authorities and enterprises to cooperate in beach cleanups across areas. In addition, the ICC International Beach Cleanup Initiative model is used to classify marine waste, to achieve the goal of waste reduction at the source starting from waste reduction, in the hope that the public will work together to maintain marine cleanliness, cherish marine resources and protect coastal ecology and promote the beautiful island culture of Taiwan.
The participants included MangaX, Gogoro Hualien Chunghua Branch, Hualien Citizens' Livelihood Community Development Association, Dongbu Motors Hetai Group, Yatai Architecture & Design, Lexus Dongbu Motors Hualien Sales Office, Hualien County Tourism & B&B Association's New York B&B, Hualien County B&B Association's Cypress House, Fengpinglangjing B&B, Meinaduo B&B, Qingding Hualien B&B, Beilaliya B&B, Xuxudewendu B&B, Xianggejia Plus B&B and Aimikasa B&B, Hualien Hotel Association's Hualien WOW Youth Hostel, Ramada Encore By Wyndham Hualien and F HOTEL Hualien.
The 9th River Management Office's 2022 annual "Tribute to the Sea, Embrace the Sea Trilogy: Clean the Sea, Know the Sea, Be Near the Sea" series of activities will be followed by one event in July and one in September. The one in July will be combined with school units and the one in August will see cross-area cooperation with authorities to spread the seeds of marine conservation and make the marine environment more beautiful.