September 12, 2007

VANCOUVER AQUARIUM LAUNCHES NATIONAL SHORELINE CLEANUP

Vancouver, BC: Shoreline litter that accumulates on Canada’s shorelines over the summer months will be removed by motivated environmental stewards in September. 

The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a Vancouver Aquarium conservation initiative, is gearing up for its 14th annual event. This year from September 15 – 23, more than 50,000 participants have registered to clean up more than 1,200 local shorelines.

The International Coastal Cleanup announced that over 1 million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals are killed every year by shoreline litter. The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is the second largest cleanup of almost 90 participating countries around the world.

Each year, participants recover bizarre items such as living room sets, hundreds of ear plugs and numerous bikes and computer equipment from Canada’s shorelines.  By far, the most harmful are the more than 200,000 cigarette butts and the 103,496 food wrappers removed last year. In almost all cleanups, the biggest contributor to shoreline litter is recreational events such as picnics, beach barbecues and boating.

In Vancouver alone, there are more than 55 shoreline cleanups happening between September 15 – 23. Only a portion of those are open to the public. The Vancouver Aquarium, Crave FM and Ocean Wise are host to one of the largest shoreline cleanups on Saturday, September 15 at 10 a.m. at Kits Beach.

For more information about where you can drop in for a cleanup, go to: www.vanaqua.org/cleanup. All shoreline cleanup supplies will be provided free of charge.

Data collected from every cleanup across the country is sent to the Vancouver Aquarium for tallying. Once tallied, all the information is forwarded to the International Coastal Cleanup for worldwide clean up totals. 

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For further information, please contact:

Brenda Jones

Manager, Public Relations

publicrelations@vanaqua.org