Campaign organised to clean beaches, coral reefs of Masirah Island

Muscat: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources has organised a campaign to clean the beaches and coral reefs of Masirah Island. 

The ministry said in a statement that, "The Ministry of Agricultural, Fisheries and Water Resources organized, on Monday morning, an expanded campaign to clean the beaches and coral reefs of Masirah Island to preserve the marine environment, in cooperation with the Oman Environment Society and with the participation of private sector institutions, civil institutions and volunteers."

The participants asserted that organising beach cleaning campaigns is a message to all sea goers about the problem of waste and its damage to the environment and the difficulty of collecting it, hoping that everyone will preserve the beaches and throw waste in the designated places.

The campaign was inaugurated by Sheikh Saeed bin Muhammad Al-Harsosi, Deputy Wali of Masirah, who said that the campaign is one of the national initiatives that seek to preserve the beaches and their beauty and most importantly, create a spirit of participation and cooperation from everyone of different age groups in preserving nature.

Youssef bin Hamad Al-Nahdi, Head of the Fisheries Development Center in Masirah said, The Ministry of Agricultural, Fisheries and Water Resources is keen to organize this two-day campaign to preserve the beautiful beaches that characterize the island, which attract tourists on a continuous basis, and also to preserve the marine environment from waste discarded in the sea, such as plastic and others. Where a number of young divers extract these wastes from the seabed.

Al-Nahdi thanked the Omani diving team and the Omani Women Association in Masirah for their active participation in this campaign to achieve the desired goal, and also thanked the institutions sponsoring the campaign, considering their sponsorship as the best evidence of the great awareness of the importance of the marine environment and the keenness to take care of it.

Diver Ali bin Saleh Al-Ajmi said, Unfortunately, due to the wrong behaviour, there are many wastes on the seabed, as they cause great harm to the environment and fish, which requires community awareness of it's harm to the marine environment and a directive them not to throw waste at sea.

Diver Hussain bin Ali Al-Ajmi said, I am happy to participate in this campaign, and my colleagues and I are doing a dive to extract the waste, which takes time for us due to its entanglement with coral reefs.

Suad Al Harithiya, Executive Director of the Oman Environment Society, said, The association is keen to implement joint community initiatives that provide an opportunity for all segments of society to contribute to conservation efforts in order to spread awareness and raise its level about the importance of protecting and preserving the environment.

She added that the marine environment is among the Society's priorities to ensure the safety of wildlife in it, and we are honoured to cooperate today with the Fisheries Development Center in Masirah to organize a campaign to clean up the main beaches on Masirah Island, especially the turtle nesting beaches.

As the association is keen on the safety of the environment. It does not forget the safety of people and people, so it has made sure that the participants adhere to the prevention and safety measures related to the current epidemic pandemic of COVID-19.