Members of the media are invited to cover and photograph the annual kick-off of Coastweeks on Saturday, Sept. 17. The kick-off on St. Croix will be held at 8 a.m. on Southgate Beach. St. Thomas’ Coastweeks clean-up event kick-off will be held at 9 a.m. on John Brewers Bay. The Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service at the University of the Virgin Islands is facilitating Coastweeks events from Sept. 17, through to Oct. 31.
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.
In 2015, worldwide, the top five categories were cigarette butts, plastic beverage bottles, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps and straws/stirrers. In the Virgin Islands the top five categories overall were plastic bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappers, glass bottles and plastic utensils.
- What: Coastweeks Kick-off Event – St. Croix
- When: Saturday, Sept. 17
- Time: 8 a.m.
- Where: Southgate Beach, St. Croix
- What: Coastweeks Kick-off Event – St. Thomas
- When: Saturday, Sept. 17
- Time: 9 a.m.
- Where: John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas
Contact: Public Relations (340) 693-1057 or pr@uvi.edu