Sept. 18, 2003 – Rotary Club of St. Thomas East will join hundreds of thousands of volunteers in the annual cleanup of beaches and costal areas across the world Saturday. On St. Thomas volunteers are invited to join Rotary East members from 8 a.m. until noon at Vessup Beach on Cabrita Point Road.
The International Coastal Cleanup is the world’s largest one-day volunteer effort on behalf of the marine environment. In 2002 nearly 400,000 people from all 55 US states and territories and 100 countries around the world participated in the cleanup, collecting 8.2 million pounds of marine debris, according to a release from the Ocean Conservancy.
Volunteers also found 259 entangled animals last year, emphasizing the dangers that marine debris plays in the coastal environment, the release said.
The Ocean Conservancy strives to be the world’s foremost advocate for the oceans. Through science-based advocacy, research, and public education, we inform, inspire and empower people to speak and act for the oceans. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with more than half a million members and volunteers The Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California, Florida, and New England and field offices in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, Calif., Florida Keys, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the office of Pollution Prevention and Monitoring in Virginia Beach, Va., the release explained.

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