Underwater Clean-up Held to Commemorate World Environment Day

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PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Dive and waterspouts operators and representatives from Divi Resorts joined the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation in an underwater clean-up commemorating World Environment Day in Little Bay on Sunday.

Aquamania Adventures, the Scuba Shop, Tiki Hut Snorkel Park and staff from Divi Resorts together with Nature Foundation volunteers and staffed cleared almost 200 pounds of garbage at about 20 feet deep in Little Bay.

“We had a small but hard working group of dedicated divers that helped us clean up everything ranging from plastic cups and bottles to tires and pipes and hoses. It was a great afternoon diving to clean up one of the most used areas of sea on our coastline with numerous tourist trips coming here to snorkel.

Hopefully next year we hope to see a larger turnout so that we can clean even more, “commented Tadzio Bervoets of the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation.

World Environment Day (WED) is observed every year on June 5 to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet Earth. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nations’ most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.

Caption to Picture: Nature Foundation Projects Officer Melanie Meijer zu-Schlochtern during the Underwater Clean-up at Divi Little Bay