Alonso Miguel participates in coastal cleaning action on São Miguel that removes more than three tons of marine litter

Sept. 26, 2022

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, participated last Thursday in a coastal cleaning action in the Prainhas area, parish of Ribeirinha, municipality of Ribeira Grande.

This initiative, according to Alonso Miguel, “was part of a series of cleaning actions promoted by the Regional Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, the Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries, and the Blue Azores Programme, as part of the International Coastal Clean-up Day 20222.

The governor added that, until 25 September, “76 coastal cleaning actions are planned, on all the islands, open to the population and with the participation of city councils, parish councils, schools, NGOs, maritime-tourism enterprises, firefighters humanitarian associations, among other entities, involving more than a thousand volunteers”.

“This operation, in Prainhas, in an area of very difficult access, lasted about four hours and involved complex logistics, using two boats and a jet ski, allowing the removal, transport and forwarding to an appropriate final destination of more than three tons of litter, collected in an extension of 400 meters of coastline, following an initiative previously developed by the Ribeirinha Parish Council,” said the governor.

Alonso Miguel stressed that “the operation had the helpful collaboration of the Ribeirinha Parish Council, the Ribeira Grande City Council and the company Futurismo, also counting on the extraordinary cooperation of the Ribeira Grande Fire Department, fundamental to the articulation of the work”.

The Regional Secretary also noted that “these actions, performed in the context of the International Coastal Clean-up Day, are added to many others performed throughout the year, with the collaboration of parish councils and populations, under the 'Eco-Freguesia, Freguesia Limpa' programme, coordinated by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change”.

And he added: "The involvement of the general population in this type of initiative is fundamental and, in fact, there has been a great response, which shows an increased sensitivity and attention to the problem of marine litter pollution and its devastating impacts on ecosystems, and also reveals a very positive development in terms of environmental awareness of the Azorean civil society, which makes us very satisfied”.