Page 13 - AHATA

A16 LOCAL
Saturday 7 September 2019

Aruba acts to protect endangered coral reefs

ORANJESTAD — Less than a year after
announcing a total ban on the use of single-
use plastic, Aruba has intensified its measures
to protect its endangered coral reefs. In what is
claimed to be “the biggest voluntarism project”
on the island over a thousand volunteers -
locals and visitors alike – will congregate on the
beaches of the Dutch Caribbean Island for the
Aruba Reef Care Project on 19 September.

The volunteers efforts to clean both snorkel and
dive sites, and beaches, is now supplemented
by a coral nursery, funded by Aloe Aruba, which
was recently unveiled in Savaneta. Historically,
Savaneta was the island’s capital up to 1797.
Aloe Aruba, which also produces coral-safe
sunscreen, is partnering local youth diving
group Scubble Bubbles, to help restore the
island’s coral reefs.
In its effort to save the coral reefs, the nursery will
be used to rehabilitate fragmented reef until it
becomes sufficiently mature to be transplanted
onto the coral reef by Scubble Bubble divers.
In 2017, the island’s authority banned the use of
all single-use plastic bags, a measure that was island’s natural environment and preserve its Perez at castroperez@gmail.com.
extended the following year to include plastic endangered coral reefs.
cups, straws and Styrofoam boxes. The ban will Since 1995, the Aruba Reef Care Project has If you can’t make the September date, an
be transitioned in until 2020. At the same time, been perhaps the best known as well as largest annual National Coastal Clean-Up Day is carried
sunscreens with oxybenzone, which damage volunteer environmental initiative on the island, out each November, during which volunteers
the coral, will also be banished from the island. raising awareness of the need to preserve make a clean sweep of Aruba beaches. q
Aruba intends to be fossil-free by the year the sea environment. If you are interested in
2020 in its continued efforts to preserve the volunteering for the organization, email Castro Credits: Facebook & website Travel begins at 40