CleanSeas Campaign
The VISC Committee has chosen to support the CleanSeas campaign from the UN Environmental Agency. The CleanSeas campaign aims at engaging governments, the general public and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic pollution. The campaign is targeting the production and use of non-recoverable and single-use plastic. To do this effectively, CleanSeas needs everyone to be aware, to engage and to be active in addressing the problem in their daily lives and beyond.
Plastic pollution in the seas and oceans is particularly relevant to anyone who uses and enjoys the sea, like we do as sailors. This is why we as a club believe it is so important to actively support the CleanSeas campaign.
During the recent Adriatic Sailing Week in Croatia we launched the club’s support of the CleanSeas campaign. While there we had first hand experience of plastic pollution, such as plastic bags and bottles in the harbours and out at sea, and even a large quantity of micro plastics in the harbour on the island of VIS (photo below). During the week members of the club avoided where ever possible the use of single use plastics, such as refusing plastic shopping bags, not buying bottled water and retrieving plastic rubbish from the sea.
To lean more please check out the CleanSeas website: http://www.cleanseas.org/
We would like to encourage every member of this club to make the pledge on the CleanSeas website and to actively support the CleanSeas campaign in what ever way possible, whether through raising awareness, avoiding single use plastic, recycling or engaging local industry or government to make changes.
We are also extremely pleased to hear of the very recent decision of the Europe Union Parliament to ban single use plastics as of 2021. Follow this link to read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45965605
Your VISC Commodore
Peter McNeill