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SAS, Fifteen Apprentices & Watergate Bay Beach Clean

SAS, Fifteen Apprentices & Watergate Bay Beach Clean

SAS_Image_Falmouth_Motivocean_Beach_CleanSurfers Against Sewage (SAS) is delighted to be joining forces with The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay to organise a beach clean at Watergate Bay on Saturday 2nd April. The event will run from 11am – 2pm and will see students from Cornish schools working with Fifteen Cornwall apprentices and community volunteers to sweep the beach of marine litter.

This event is part of SAS’s successful Motivocean Beach Clean & Sports Tour. Motivocean beach clean events encourage environmental awareness and activism amongst youth volunteers. The sea and coastal environment are a vital component of so many sporting activities from sailing to surfing, windsurfing to volley ball, and through this initiative SAS aims to build and reinforce awareness, linking sport and protection of the environment. Youth volunteers* participating in the beach clean will be rewarded with free surf lessons with the Extreme Academy.

To date SAS has attracted almost 1000 youth volunteers to Motivocean events all generously volunteering a few hours of their time to help make a positive difference to beautiful beaches, rivers and waterways around the UK. As a result, SAS has already removed hundreds of bags marine litter – totalling many tonnes of unsightly and dangerous waste – from our beautiful and unique coastline.

The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay already operates with a strong commitment to the environment and to the local community. Their collaboration on this event is an addition to their regular monthly beach clean at Watergate Bay. Chris Hugo, Director, The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay said, “The beach and the sea are what make Watergate Bay the special place that it is, and it is so important that such a wonderful playground remains unspoilt for generations to come. We are thrilled to be working with Surfers Against Sewage and welcome their Motivocean coming to Watergate Bay.”

Since 1994, the volume of marine litter on UK beaches has increased by a shocking 121%** and SAS is helping combat this tide line of trash through its volunteer beach cleans and ongoing environmental campaigns. Plastic makes up the vast majority of marine litter and never truly breaks down.  Experts suggest plastic left in the environment will be with us in some microscopic form for many thousands of years.  When in the sea, plastics can adsorb toxic chemicals, becoming increasingly harmful over time, and often entering the food chain when mistaken for food items by marine organisms.  Over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, and over 1 million seabirds die every year from ingestion of and entanglement in marine litter. 

The programme is funded and powered by The National Young Volunteers Service. 

Hugo Tagholm, Director of SAS, commented, “We’re delighted to be working with The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Fifteen Cornwall and other local community stakeholders to run this event at the beautiful Watergate Bay. These events encourage volunteers to make a meaningful difference to local beaches and the wider marine environment by removing many tonnes of marine litter, and provides the platform for coastal communities to get together as part of SAS’s Big ‘Marine’ Society.”

Surfers Against Sewage is now recruiting young volunteers for the project – further information can be found by contacting Adam Beare on volunteer@sas.org.uk or 01872 553 001, checking www.sas.org.uk or by visiting www.vinspired.com

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