The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has cautioned the public against the indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the sea, saying the practice contributes to the destruction of marine life.
“The sea has enormous benefits and it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure we keep the sea safe and clean. Destroying the sea, especially by dumping plastic waste into it, will cause humans more harm than good so let us all be responsible in our actions,” Senior Public Relations Officer of the GMA, Mrs Rosevera Nsiah, has said.
She was speaking at the launch of GMA’s Clean Sea campaign in Accra yesterday, an initiative, which formed part of efforts to educate the populace on the harmful effects of plastic waste to the oceans and the need to occasionally clean the beaches.
According to Mrs Nsiah, plastic pollution had direct and deadly effect on marine life, adding that thousands of seabirds and sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals were killed each year after ingesting plastic or getting entangled in it.
She called for more support from individuals and organisations to “save the ocean from plastic waste.”
The president of Women in Shipping Association Ghana (WISTA), Mrs Jemilat Jawulaa Mahamah in her remarks, said the major challenge facing the oceans today was pollution from ships and land based sources.
Plastic pollution, she said was a major source of concern which needed innovative ideas to address.
She mentioned the use of innovative technology and the ban on single use plastics, recycling of plastics as keys to overcoming plastic ocean pollution.
“In many places, the ocean has become a rubbish dump for millions of tonnes of litter, it is time for action to save our oceans from pollution”, she stressed.
Mrs Mahamah mentioned the use of reusable bottles, cleaning the beaches as often as possible and reducing fertiliser usage as some practices that could sustain and protect the ocean against destruction.
More than 70 people from selected coastal areas in Accra joined WISTA and GMA to clean the Borla beach located at the Black Star square in Accra as part of the programme.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
