Tackling environmental threats to the oceans
More than 50 people joined Sentinel Ocean Alliance’s coastal clean-up on Hout Bay Beach on Saturday.
Among the group, Selina and Shahir Sirkar, from Blouberg, picked up condoms, cigarette lighters and bottles. They were surprised not to pick up many cigarette butts, but the stompies topped the litter list of Neil and Carol Cox, visitors from England.
Emptying their bag of waste, Estee and George Hill, of Hout Bay poked a flip-flop, underpants, lolly sticks, earbuds, wooden off-cuts and the usual single use plastic bags.
Ntombi Makabeni, of Imizamo Yethu, and her children, Junior, 11, and Owen, 10, joined Max Meeke, of Sea Point, to carry a broken trolley full of litter. “For the love of my community, for the love of Hout Bay,” said Ms Makabeni.
According to Sentinel Ocean Alliance’s director of operations, Marguerite Hofmeyr, the non-profit company holds coastal clean-ups every second month around Cape Town.
“We also use it as an educational tool to engage the public with the plastic waste problem our oceans and communities are facing.”
They also try to make the clean-ups appeal to the youth. “We provide precious plastic treasure maps for them to use along with sieves to hunt for micro plastics - the biggest plastic threat our ocean is facing,” Ms Hofmeyr said.
Surfer Frank Solomon founded the Sentinel Ocean Alliance in 2017 to create ocean-based opportunities for the underprivileged youth of Hout Bay.
Standing in Sentinel Ocean Alliance’s converted shipping containers at the southern end of the beach, Ms Hofmeyr said the area used to be a dust bowl, home to vagrants and litter.
In 2021, Mr Solomon joined Parley for the Oceans, an American NGO that tackles environmental threats to the oceans.
“Parley Ocean School teaches children about the environment and exposes them to marine conservation in a programme that simplifies complex marine threats through engaging materials developed with a global network of educators,” said Ms Hofmeyr.
About 80 children go through a 16 week programme with the Parley Ocean School, learning about the oceans and how to protect them.
“They also attend the Turn The Tide ocean therapy programme, where they are taught basic ocean safety skills, which also has a strong focus on mental health and ocean education,” said Ms Hofmeyr.
All plastic waste collected from the clean-ups is delivered to False Bay Trading Recyclers, a company in Sunnydale, where, according to the owner and founder, Yolanda Valentine, the waste is sorted, counted, weighed and the data is collected to keep track of the top-polluting items and top-polluting companies.
Sentinel Ocean Alliance is asking for towels for its eight-week ocean safety and water confidence programme, Turn The Tide.
For more information on the Sentinel Ocean Alliance and the Parley Ocean School, visit sentineloceanalliance.org.
