The Environmental Protection Agency, in conjunction with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, has embarked on a thorough clean up exercise of the beach front within the Fishing Harbour enclave in Tema, to mark the World Ocean Day.
World Ocean Day is a global celebration where hundreds of events around the world are organized to celebrate the ocean; all that it represents, and a renewed effort in protecting it.
At the EPA-GPHA organised clean up exercise, stakeholders of the Tema Fishing Harbour, including fishermen, and traders, as well as indigenes of the Tema New Town Fishing Community assembled to partake in the volunteer event.
The Acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, John Pwamang, said special focus was given to plastics, which have been a menace to the conservation of a healthy environment.
He said the plastics are extracted from the sea tides, and with the help of Fan Milk Ghana, are sorted out for recycling.
“We have been removing a lot plastic waste from what the sea waves bring that the we are putting them inside skips provided by GPHA, and they are sorted out for recycling.”
The Acting EPA boss advocated for the sanctioning of carrier plastics bags, which are not biodegradable and yet form the majority of the plastic waste that bedevils our environment, both land and sea.
Marketing Manager for the Tema Fishing Harbour, Joana Adda, educated the indigenes to take up an attitude of a conscientiousness towards the discharge of refuse and the conservation of a healthy environment.
“Cleanliness in the environment is a shared responsibility and it is attitudinal. So we need to sensitize our people for them to understand,” she said.
The elders of the fishing community lamented the inadequate supply of proper refuse damps, but they assured of their commitment to ensure that their fellow indigenes comply with measures to do away with the wrongful discharge of refuse.