World Ocean Day: Volunteers gather bags of rubbish from Portsmouth shoreline

Organised by Conservative councillors who have led calls within Portsmouth City Council for local initiatives to protect the city’s marine, the weekend event saw bags of rubbish collected from the seafront.

Hilsea ward councillor Daniel Wemyss, who last year had a motion he proposed with former councillor Rob New – which called on the council to consider the health of the ocean in each of its decisions – pass, said he planned to host similar events in the future.

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‘It was fantastic to see so many like-minded individuals turn up for the beach clean,’ he said. ‘With World Ocean Day just around the corner, it is a perfect opportunity for the community to continue its efforts in preserving our marine environment.

‘I often champion these causes on the council and I know that as an island city, residents in Portsmouth also want our city to be as clean as possible for everyone to enjoy and these events really shine a light on the problems our marine environment is facing.’

Along with several bags of rubbish collected, volunteers also removed traffic cones and a life buoy left along the seafront.

World Ocean Day was originally proposed by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development in 1992 and has been co-ordinated by The Ocean Project since 2002. It takes place annually on June 8.

The aim of the event is to increase public interest in ocean conservation and sustainability measures.

The ‘ocean recovery’ motion passed by the council last year requires closer ties with marine companies in the city, to work with schools to ‘grow ocean literacy’ and to urge the government to introduce measures to tackle the discharge of sewage into the sea by water companies.