Beach cleanup organized by NOWPAP

As a part of new NOWPAP project – Marine Litter Activity (MALITA) – international beach cleanup was organized on 30 September 2006 in Sakata city (Yamagata Prefecture, Japan). More than 100 people from China, Japan, Korea and Russia participated in the beach cleanup and a workshop held on the previous day. Representatives from government agencies, research and education institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local citizen shared their experiences in organizing International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and similar events in their countries. The 2006 NOWPAP ICC event was sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representative from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea indicated that a similar event might be hosted and financially supported by the Korean Government in September 2007. Participants of the beach cleanup and associated workshop agreed that raising public awareness is one of most important activities in dealing with the marine litter problem. Representatives of both China and Russia confirmed their willingness to join the ICC in the nearest future.