Despite the growing environmental awareness the Save a Fishie team is creating by having regular beach clean-ups at the Milnerton Lagoon, the lack of local involvement is still a concern.
Zoë Prinsloo from Save a Fishie says they only have three or four volunteers from the Milnerton community.
“They don’t come every week but are regular beach clean-up attendees that are actually from Milnerton. The rest of the people attending the clean-ups are from Edgemead, Bothasig, Richwood areas and we even have supporters that come from Wellington. We have people coming from all over Cape Town for the Milnerton Lagoon clean-ups, but the lack of Milnerton locals attending is a bit sad to see considering it is their area,” Prinsloo says.
Prinsloo told TygerBurger that she is just curious why the locals do not join and has set up a poll via Facebook asking for their input.
“I wanted to do the poll to see what people are thinking and see how they feel about it,” she says.
On Monday morning, a total of 171 votes were in with most (approximately 63 votes) saying they do not attend beach clean-ups because they are not sure where it is being held.
About 42 people say they do not attend because they work on Saturdays and about 15 people say they do not attend due to their children’s sport activities.
The beach clean-ups are usually held every Saturday morning at Lagoon Beach.
Changes
Prinsloo says after the votes were in, she decided to make a few changes.
“I will try to share the clean-up flyers more (I do already share on this group but will try sharing more often) – one week and one day before the event. I will also try to host a clean-up on a Sunday and see if that makes a difference,” she says.
She says she will also remind the public that they don’t have to go into the polluted water.
“We have gloves. We have sanitiser. We are safe,” she says.
Last Saturday, the team held a clean-up in partnership with John Dory’s Fish, Grill, Sushi and collected 98,5 kg of waste.
“Again not many volunteers from Milnerton, which was sad to see. We need more local support and involvement. All the usual suspects with regards to litter found: a gazillion cigarette butts, alcohol bottle caps, straws, lollipop sticks, stove nappies, lots of material etc. Yvonne found a dead fish and our American friend, Jen, found haemorrhoid cream,” she says.
For more information on upcoming beach clean-ups, contact the team via info@saveafishie.co.za
