On October 26, 2019, HUMAN IN LOVE(HIL) carried out an underwater clean-up and a beach clean-up with a total of 89 people, including the HIL Search and Rescue corps, volunteers, the local government office in Taean, and the fishing community (Sinjindo-ri fishing community) in the Sinjin Port and Buekdo island in Taean, Chungcheongnam-do province. HIL conducted these activities in the order of education for environment protection, clean-ups(underwater and beach), and monitoring, and allocated a ship, a boat, and various underwater equipment to these activities.
Taean is the region where Koreans took the initiative in cleaning the sea and beaches right after the oil spill accident occurred in the Sea in 2007 and protected it by cleaning up each stone. However, Taean has been suffering from the recklessly discarded marine debris.
[Collected marine debris from the Sinjin port and Bueok-do in Taean]
On this day, we picked up large-sized tires, construction scaffolding pipes, ladders, tables, paint cans, and fishing nets in the water. And, we collected food mixed with waste, various plastics, styrofoam, glasses, cans, fishing lines, baits, and clothing with a total of 4,500 kg of marine debris on the beach.
Taean has a wide range of coastlines with four sides facing the sea on the east, west, north, and south sides and consists of 119 islands. Waste from China and inland areas such as the Han River has flowed into Taean by sea currents and is accumulating on the shores of Taean. In addition, Taean has a large fishery industry and many tourist attractions such as beaches and camping grounds, resulting in a lot of waste has been made.
”Since there’s a lot of marine waste, the clean-ups are endless. But, I deeply appreciate that volunteers came from a distance to pick up marine debris.”
[Ki-bok PARK, Chief of fishing community in Sinjindo-ri]
HIL has been implementing projects in the field of environment, education, support for the vulnerable at home and abroad, and disaster relief as an international humanitarian and development non-governmental organization that obtained special consultative status with the UN ECOSOC(United Nations Economic and Social Council) and associated with the UN DPI(Department of Public Information), in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Meanwhile, since 2012, HIL has been carrying out clean-ups in the sea and river to raise awareness of the seriousness of the marine debris problem and the importance of ecosystem conservation.
These clean-ups were sponsored by the HIL family members, Happybean, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, supported by the Korea Marine Environment Management, the local government office in Taean, the fishing community in Sinjindo-ri, Seosan Fisheries Cooperative, Taean Maritime Police Station, Taean Volunteer Center, the PRO diving shop. Thank you so much, everyone!
