Overstrand Municipality’s Environmental Management Section tackled the beach and dune areas near De Kelders in a clean-up effort as part of the International Beach Clean-up Day on Thursday, 16 September 2021.

Beach stewards and interns from WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) working at the Hermanus Tourism Bureau and Old Harbour Museum in Hermanus, joined the Environmental Management team. They were also joined by two marine biology students.

Field Ranger Marco Cornelius said they covered an area of approximately 4km and 27 bags of litter were collected. Abandoned fishing nets, net cuttings, crayfish traps, broken camping chairs, 20 litre plastic buckets and a lot of rope were among the items collected.

Overstrand Municipality urges the fishing community of the area to think before they discard their equipment as animals find their way into the abandoned nets, become entangled and suffocated in the gear.

A big thank you goes to all the volunteers for their clean-up efforts. The positivity and willingness to make a difference in our environment, made this one of the stand-out years that will not be forgotten.