Marine Life & Conservation
Mauritius Joins the War on Plastics
More than just a pretty face, Mauritius is an island with an environmental protection policy that takes pollution and plastics control very seriously indeed. Littering is controlled with fines ranging from Rs 2000 (E45) for a first offense to Rs 10 000 (E250) and a year in jail if you do it again.
Within 8 hours direct flight from Europe and a 2 hour time difference, Mauritius has year-round warm water, clear visibility, and the coral reefs are re-growing. Diving in the North is exceptional, and it is a real pleasure to dive in clean, clear, warm water, to walk on beautiful white beaches, and to breathe clean air. The endangered Green Turtles are returning to the Island, and there are now 11 on Turtle Rock, various sizes.
Plastic shopping bags are banned. Textile manufacturing companies supplement the income lost to Chinese competition by sewing sturdy woven IKEA-type shopping bags. All the supermarkets sell them, branded with their logos, well designed and well-constructed. If you forget yours on a shopping trip, you might be offered a thin, recycled bio-degradable bag or a paper bag for your stuff, but its no to plastic bags throughout the island.
There are recycling bins for plastic bottles and glass outside the supermarkets, and there are more than 36 recycling companies registered in Mauritius. Recycling of bottles and other plastics has become a good business for Surf-rider, a small company in the North. They collect the plastic bottles and packaging materials, and turn them into planks, gates benches and dustbins.
The Maxi-Clean teams of ladies in their orange overalls sweep and clean the streets and beaches every day, and this policy protects the sea and the reefs from pollution.
Most hotels in Mauritius are owned by Mauritians who assist Government by spearheading the war on plastics, coral reef protection and recycling. Of course, it’s in their best interests to preserve the marine environment, as tourism accounts directly and indirectly for 26% of the Mauritius GDP and Mauritius has built its reputation on its clean sandy beaches and pristine lagoons.
It’s easy to impose fines for littering, to have clean-up days and to prosecute offenders, but at a very deep grass roots level, the Mauritius Hotel chains and the local NGO Conservationists are working together to teach the next generation about conservation.
One example, and there are many, is The Attitude Group of Hotels under the leadership of Jean Michel Pitot. He has gone much further with conservation than recycling, sewerage reticulation, water conservation and re-educating the population. He has also replanted the mangroves around the rocky parts of the island in the North to prevent coastal erosion.
It’s refreshing to meet a hotelier who refers to his staff as family, encourages them to participate in profit sharing, and who is both humble in his accomplishments and respectful of his environment. He looks at to the next generation for the future of Mauritius and wants to ensure that the island retains its benign simplicity and family values.
In addition, his family of Attitude Hotels has sponsored Reef Conservation by building the REEF Nauticaz Oceanographic Resource Centre and paying its staff. REEF visits schools throughout Mauritius, teaching kids about the reefs, the ocean, and how they can help to preserve this extraordinary Island.
Diving Mauritius is beautiful, with white sand, blue water and colourful soft corals. But even more, it’s reassuring to know that you will see only blue when you are diving with the sharks beneath Shark Island, or enjoying a safari to Confetti bay and Djabeda wreck, or checking out an Anemone Clown fish on Reef Garden.
- Words: Jill Holloway
- Images: Ian Haggerty
- Copyright: Ocean Spirit
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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