Nahoon Beach is both a playground and an office for surfer and environmental educator Dean Knox, so he has decided to clean it up with the help of community volunteers at 10am on Sunday morning.
Knox said the cleanup coincides with World Oceans Day today, and he wanted to honour the day by clearing the Nahoon coastline stretching from the banks of the Nahoon river in the east to the cove leading to Bat’s Cave in the west.
“I am involved in environmental education and have all my fun and make a living at Nahoon Beach, so if you are in education you must also walk the talk.”
He said the biggest threat to the world’s oceans was the scourge of single-use plastics like grocery bags, plastic straws, earbuds, bread tags, water bottles and food packaging, washed down rivers and storm water drains and swept out to sea. Marine animals like turtles, seabirds and whales mistake them for food and die after ingesting gut-fulls of plastic.
“In my time working and surfing along our coastline, I have come across many seabirds and whales washed up dead,” said Knox.
“At Nahoon there are a few hotspots where there is a lot of plastic pollution in different geographical locations, and this plastic comes from different sources.”
He explained that because the source of the Nahoon river is the Amathole mountains, it flows through many settlements and suburbs collecting litter, fishermen’s waste and other illegally dumped rubbish, eventually flowing into the Indian Ocean.
“We will make eight canoes available for those who want to paddle up the river to where there’s trash, because some of the banks are inaccessible.”
Another hotspot is the polluted Ihlanza River, referred to as the Turdy by locals, which flows out onto the beach, having snaked through kilometres of populated areas.
“It catches litter, illegal dumping and water from stormwater drains and floats out to sea.”
The third is the stretch of beach west of Nahoon Point and the cove leading to Bat’s Cave, which is strewn with plastic earbud sticks, nurdles, condom rings, bottle tops and other plastic rubbish.
“A lot of it comes from the sewerage works and from ships,” said Knox.
In a similar cleanup last year, also organised by Knox, about 70 large bags of trash were collected along this coastline, and Knox hopes many beach users and conservation-minded volunteers will do the same on Sunday.
In order to prevent a buildup of plastic waste after the cleanup, he has urged members of the public to employ the “Take 3 for the Sea” movement, which encourages beach users to remove just three pieces of plastic from the seashore every time they visit.
- While there will be some bags available, cleanup volunteers may bring their own bags, gloves and pieces of shade cloth if they are going to collect nurdles.
There is a choice of two gathering spots at 10 am on Sunday – Reef Café or the East London Lifesaving Club. —barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Come help clean up Nahoon
Image: Dylan Wearing
Nahoon Beach is both a playground and an office for surfer and environmental educator Dean Knox, so he has decided to clean it up with the help of community volunteers at 10am on Sunday morning.
Knox said the cleanup coincides with World Oceans Day today, and he wanted to honour the day by clearing the Nahoon coastline stretching from the banks of the Nahoon river in the east to the cove leading to Bat’s Cave in the west.
“I am involved in environmental education and have all my fun and make a living at Nahoon Beach, so if you are in education you must also walk the talk.”
He said the biggest threat to the world’s oceans was the scourge of single-use plastics like grocery bags, plastic straws, earbuds, bread tags, water bottles and food packaging, washed down rivers and storm water drains and swept out to sea. Marine animals like turtles, seabirds and whales mistake them for food and die after ingesting gut-fulls of plastic.
“In my time working and surfing along our coastline, I have come across many seabirds and whales washed up dead,” said Knox.
“At Nahoon there are a few hotspots where there is a lot of plastic pollution in different geographical locations, and this plastic comes from different sources.”
He explained that because the source of the Nahoon river is the Amathole mountains, it flows through many settlements and suburbs collecting litter, fishermen’s waste and other illegally dumped rubbish, eventually flowing into the Indian Ocean.
“We will make eight canoes available for those who want to paddle up the river to where there’s trash, because some of the banks are inaccessible.”
Another hotspot is the polluted Ihlanza River, referred to as the Turdy by locals, which flows out onto the beach, having snaked through kilometres of populated areas.
“It catches litter, illegal dumping and water from stormwater drains and floats out to sea.”
The third is the stretch of beach west of Nahoon Point and the cove leading to Bat’s Cave, which is strewn with plastic earbud sticks, nurdles, condom rings, bottle tops and other plastic rubbish.
“A lot of it comes from the sewerage works and from ships,” said Knox.
In a similar cleanup last year, also organised by Knox, about 70 large bags of trash were collected along this coastline, and Knox hopes many beach users and conservation-minded volunteers will do the same on Sunday.
In order to prevent a buildup of plastic waste after the cleanup, he has urged members of the public to employ the “Take 3 for the Sea” movement, which encourages beach users to remove just three pieces of plastic from the seashore every time they visit.
There is a choice of two gathering spots at 10 am on Sunday – Reef Café or the East London Lifesaving Club. —barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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