INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP RESULTS, 2005

This last Saturday, 17 of September, the International Coastal Cleanup was celebrated under the direction of The Ocean Conservancy in near 100 countries. Puerto Rico, contributor of the effort, this year shined more than ever by its results.

The activity of environmental conservation managed to hit 83 beaches with 7.731 volunteers raising 137.405 pounds of waste and cleaning 99.65 miles of coast. We did it all in one day! "This represents the biggest movement of coastal cleaning in the history of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean", quote and confirmed by the Honorable Javier Vélez-Arocho, Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico.

The local effort is directed by Alberto A. Martí Ruiz from Scuba Dogs, President of the company and National Coordinator of the International Coastal Cleanup in Puerto Rico. "These results were obtained thanks to the integration of government resources, the private company and the Puerto Rican citizenship", commented Alberto. "Once again, it was proven that the Puerto Ricans do have a genuine interest and a commitment with the environment conservation. All these thousands of people are environmental heroes helping to solve this serious problem of litter", emphasized.

The effort integrated other activities of conservation, like the recycling of solid wastes, sowing thousands of trees for coastal reforestation and educational conferences to make conscience on the terrible impact of waste to the environment. Altogether the cleaning movement managed to hit 7 bays, 4 rivers, 2 lakes, 3 estuaries, 6 coastal areas, 4 small barren islands, 9 public beaches and 53 beaches.

To implement the cleaning, Scuba Dogs provides all the training and cleaning materials like bags, gloves, pencils and data cards, refreshments like water, juice and sodas, and other goodies like free caps and shirts for volunteers. This contribution is provided to more than 200 coast captains who simultaneously direct the cleaning in their respective beaches.

The support of the government and the private company it is fundamental to make the cleaning. This group of national sponsors is composed by the National Parks Company, Department of Natural Resources, the Company of Tourism PR, US Coast Guard, Santander Group, Waste Management, Telemundo, El Nuevo Día, Coors Haciendo Ambiente, Palmas del Mar, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, Wyeth, EcoEléctrica, Nueva-X, Enrique Martí Coll Foundation, Triple-S, PADI Project Aware, Grainger, Master Enterprises, San Miguel Four Seasons, Goya, Pronatura, Blue Flag and on 40 participant municipalities.

All the cleaning made this day stood out by different group dynamics, work of volunteers, and use of heavy machinery and/or circumstances that made them particularly exceptional. We do everything to save the environment.

The International Coastal Cleanup impelled world-wide by The Ocean Conservancy every year on the same date, third Saturday of September. You can join the Scuba Dogs team to participate in this and other regional cleanups during the year, like in other activities of echo-tourism, censuses of fish and exotic excursions. If you are interested, send us your email address to include you in our contact list. You can also contact us for more information at:
• Fax - 787-793-3301
• email - limpieza@scubadogs.net
• Website - www.scubadogs.net (Inscription in line)
• Local - Samaritan Good Street, Gardenville, Guaynabo (next to the Urban Train of Torrimar)

For more information, call Scuba Dogs at 787-783-6377.

Thanks again for being part of the biggest environmental cleaning effort in the world.

This cleaning is made thanks to the integrated effort of the government, the private company and the community in general.