Coastweeks events in the territory will run Sept. 17- Oct. 31. This year,Coastweeks events will include a renewed emphasis on litter prevention, thanks to a $99,000 Marine Debris Program grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to researchers at the University of the Virgin Islands.
Coastweeks features the clean-up of numerous beaches and shallow waters near shorelines throughout the territory, with civic groups, students and individual volunteers supplying the muscle and the global Ocean Conservancy and the Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service (VIMAS) doing the organizing. An international initiative, the Conservancy introduced the concept 30 years ago in an effort to collect and track debris that can pollute the ocean and damage marine life.
“There’s always been an educational component to Coastweeks,” Marcia Taylor, VIMAS coordinator for St. Croix, noted, but this year it will be enhanced because of the Marine Debris grant. “We’re going to be using one program to support the other.” More information is available in a news release on the Media Section of the UVI website –http://www.uvi.edu - and from this direct link.