Green Coast Clean Coast in the Antrim Coast & Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Friday, Jun 4 2010

Green Coast Clean Coast on Ballycastle Beach in the Antrim Coast & Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust staff and volunteers celebrated World Ocean Day with a Ballycastle beach clean as part of their Green Coast Clean Coast campaign.

On Friday 4^th June the team waved goodbye to litter in the Antrim Coast & Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) where they were joined by fifteen pupils from Gaelscoil an Chaistil, the Irish medium primary school in Ballycastle; Chair of Moyle District Council, Cara McShane, Head of Tourism and Leisure, Kevin McGarry; Countryside Officer, Michael McConaghy and Tourism Development Officer, Kerrie McGonigle. 

Rachel Bain AONB Officer with the Causeway Coast & Glens Heritage Trust briefed the young enthusiasts on beach biodiversity and circulated the Wildlife in Moyle poster, produced as part of the Moyle Biodiversity Action Plan.

Sarah Irwin, the Sustainable Development Officer with the Trust gave health and safety instructions to the clean-up team before providing them with litter pickers, rubbish bags and gloves.  The children eagerly bagged litter for more than an hour leaving the beach spotlessly clean and litter-free. Moyle District Council rewarded the children with ice-creams supplied by Harry’s Ices.

Sarah praised the team commenting: ‘The pupils from Gaelscoil an Chaistil have done a fabulous job of cleaning Ballycastle beach.  I hope that by participating in the Green Coast Clean Coast campaign they will always be aware of the importance of protecting our spectacular coasts and will become young champions of the environment. World Ocean Day is celebrated all over the world and it is fantastic that this small team in the Antrim Coast & Glens Area of Outstanding has contributed to the celebrations.’  

World Ocean Day began on 8 June 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On 5 December 2008, the United Nations resolved that from 2009, 8 June would be designated as World Oceans Day. World Ocean Day is an opportunity every year to honour the world's ocean, celebrate the products the ocean provides, such as seafood, as well as marine life and also a time to appreciate its own intrinsic value. The ocean also provides sea-lanes for international trade. Global pollution and over-consumption of fish have resulted in drastically dwindling population of the majority of species.

If you would like to recommend a clean-up project in your Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) contact Sarah Irwin, the Sustainable Development (Tourism) Officer at the CCGHT offices on 02820752100 or sarah@ccght.org