Ocean Megatrends and Ryukyu ICC Challenge from Sep. 22 through Nov. 11

NO DATA

By Edo Heinrich-Sanchez

Participants of “The World Ocean Forum” that was held in Seoul a week ago.

Get ready to hit the beach or dive for clean oceans while we join citizen scientists around the world using “volunteer ocean trash data forms”.

We will be at Cape Maeda from 10:00. Please meet at 9:30 at the Maeda Diver’s House. Register for detailed directions and guidance.

Ocean and waterway trash ranks as one of the most serious pollution problems choking our planet. Far more than an eyesore, a rising tide of marine debris and plastic trash threatens human health, wildlife, communities and economies around the world. The ocean faces many challenges, but trash should not be one of them. Ocean trash is entirely preventable, and data you collect is a part of the solution. International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is the world’s largest volunteer effort on behalf of ocean and waterway health.

Here is how it works in five steps plus one:

1. Register with Okinawa O.C.E.A.N. as a Beach Captain, and your cleanup.

Local regulations apply.

2. Clean the beach or reef and collect data.

3. Organize and analyze data using online tools.

4. Results will be published in the world report by the Ocean Conservancy

5. Beach Captains and/or participating groups will be recognized and given a participation award.

With the trash collected make a work of art and enter it in the Marine Debris Art Challenge. Take a picture of your masterpiece and send it in. Finalists will be called, and the top ten winners will receive prizes and have their work displayed at our October world ocean workshop at OIST.

Craig N. Mclean Deputy, Assistant Administrator to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), wrapped up the forum with closing remarks “Korea has stepped forward to fill the void providing resources and commitment”. He is joined by Jae-Chul Kim, the Chairman and CEO of Dongwon Group, the main sponsor of the event, and one of the world’s largest fishing companies.

English Ocean Trash Data Forms are available at all PADI Dive Centers and Kadena Marina. Or do a joint cleanup using the Ryukyu ICC Challenge bi-lingual ocean trash data cards available on-line http://www.okinawaocean.org

Join us and coast guard officers from around the Asia-Pacific on September 24th for an afternoon cleanup.

The World Ocean Forum wrapped up with flying colors in Seoul. Keynote speakers John and Doris Naisbitt left us with a lot to think about as we ready for “a new global order is on the rise”.

They explained that the West is no longer in the lead and the US is ignoring the role of other Asian countries on the world stage that do not want to be lectured anymore.

“The bottom-up discontent with lethargic global institutions and short term election-driven politics are rising to reformation and revolution levels. The world’s oceans cover 70 percent of our planet. They don’t know borders, and neither do the challenges and opportunities they hold.”

All the presentations and proceedings will be posted online at http://www.wof.kr