Thursday, April 24, 2008

Bonaire Celebrates Earth Day with a Klein Bonaire Beach Cleanup

As it has in past years, STCB (Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire) collaborated with STINAPA to organize a beach cleanup during the Earth Day celebration.  This year it was decided to prepare the beaches on Klein Bonaire for a good start of the 2008 sea turtle nesting season, which begins in May.

On Sunday, April 20, a beach clean-up was conducted successfully on Klein Bonaire, which is Bonaire’s most important nesting beach for both hawksbill and loggerhead turtles. Maintaining unobstructed access to beaches for egg laying female turtles is extremely important to the survival of these endangered animals.

A total of 90 volunteers participated during this clean-up and 105 bags of trash were collected and sorted for further classification and analysis. Volunteers were mainly residents from the island, with a large group of teenagers from Jong Bonaire participating with two of their youth leaders. The Coast Guard was also part of this clean-up. Another group, with the CIEE Research Station Bonaire, was in charge of classifying and documenting the collected trash. Results from the data collected provides a good tool to determine the origin of this inadequately disposed garbage on Bonaire.

Thanks go to STCB, STINAPA, Coast Guard, SELIBON, Jong Bonaire, Kantika di Amor, and all the volunteers who participated in this clean-up.  (Source:  STCB)