Teluk Senangin is the first location of the Plastic Free Sea campaign
LUMUT: Teluk Senangin Beach was chosen as the first site for the implementation of the Perak State-level Plastic Free Sea campaign.
The selection of the resort beach coincides with the state government’s efforts through the Department of Fisheries to maintain environmental sustainability as a focal point for people on vacation every weekend.
The state Plantation, Agriculture and Food Industry Exco, Razman Zakaria said, marine debris dominated by plastic is a global environmental issue that threatens marine and coastal biodiversity including in Senangin Bay.
According to him, studies have shown that plastic pollution threatens the country’s seafood chain to an alarming level.
“The Department of Fisheries has devised and implemented a holistic approach through this campaign to reduce microplastic pollution by stopping the increase of plastic in the sea.
“This microplastic pollution is the result of plastic waste that enters the river system and the sea according to the current and then breaks down to form a size less than 1 millimeter.
“So on the part of the state government, we hope that this campaign will continue in Perak to further increase public awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution, especially microplastics, for the sake of maintaining the nation’s marine ecosystem,” he said.
He said this when officiating the Plastic Free @Save Our Sea Campaign and the Perak State Fisheries Department’s Unjam Anchoring Program at the Teluk Senangin Fishery Community website here on Thursday.
In the program, as many as 100 loop type unjams were anchored in the waters of Senangin Bay to create a new environment for fish habitat for reproduction and to enrich fishery resources.
Razman said that breeding fish in the unjam area indirectly allows fishermen in the Teluk Senangin area and its surroundings to benefit.
“The conservation of fishery resources in the waters of Teluk Senangin as a fishing area and agro-tourism activities is very important.
“This step needs to be successful by all parties for the sake of the responsibility of protecting habitat, fish resources and food safety with sustainable management through the sustainability of resources and the improvement of fishermen’s living standards,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director of Perak Fisheries, Noraishah Hashim said, the use of single-use plastic or single-use plastic such as mineral water bottles in daily activities has contributed to the problem of not being environmentally friendly, i.e. plastic that cannot be disposed of biologically (biodegradable).
He said, for example, plastic drinking water bottles floating in the ocean can last up to 500 years before breaking down into smaller sizes known as microplastics.
“Through the Beach Clean Up activity, we managed to clean up large-sized plastic waste, but the threat of microplastics still exists, including along this beach,” he said.
source – Sinar Harian
