Volunteers, schoolchildren, scouts and certified divers took part
Around 110 people came together to help “clean the land and sea” near Albufeira Marina on Saturday, April 13, having collected around 360 kilos of rubbish.
The clean-up event brought together everyone from volunteers, schoolchildren, scouts, and certified divers, all of whom worked together to collect as much rubbish as they could find.
As Albufeira Council said in a statement, “environmental quality and sustainability are among our main concerns.”
“More than 80% of pollution reaching the oceans originates on land, caused by human activity. Urban waste, industrial waste, plastics, oil, chemical residues, sewage, fishing nets and gear, and other waste present in rivers and seawater are extremely harmful to marine biodiversity, affecting the maintenance of oceanic ecosystems and potentially reaching our homes through food chains,” said mayor José Carlos Rolo.
He added that reversing this situation is “urgent”, hence the importance of promoting these kinds of events.
The clean-up event featured volunteers from the Volunteer Firefighters of Albufeira, Easydivers, the Association of Professional Fishermen of Albufeira, the Association for the Investigation of the Marine Environment, Albufeira Marina, Docapesca, Dreamwave, the Association of Sports and Recreational Fishing Professionals of Baleeira and Algarexperience, as well as a class from the Vale Pedra primary school, the Cadets School of the Volunteer Firefighters and scouts from the 714 Group.
