Celebrate our seas
during Marine Week
By Tabisa Mntengwana
14 October 2008
NATIONAL Marine Week is being celebrated in Buffalo City with a full line-up of activities, including school visits, a lecture on climate change and the opening of the Enviro Centre at the East London Aquarium.
The week takes place nationally from 13 to 17 October each year, marking the start of the summer season. According to a City press release, it is the season when large numbers of people come down to the sea and interact with the marine environment.
“[The event] aims to focus public attention on the marine environment and the importance of the oceans to life on earth.”
This year’s theme is Changing climate, changing oceans and coasts, changing lives – all hands on deck. “It highlights the potential and real effects humans have had on the oceans of the world and is a plea to all to realise that every day each individual’s actions contribute to the state of the environment.”
School visits are being conducted by the municipal marine services department together with Marine and Coastal Management, a unit of the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
“The week should remind our communities of their obligation to take responsibility for their actions close to and at the coast,” says marine services’ Siani Tinley.
Marine Week is also a reminder to South Africans of the value of the coastal environment, its beauty, it assets, “its potential and the effects that we have on its future”.
“It is important for the public and communities to make use of these opportunities and equip themselves with the knowledge provided and include this in their daily way of life,” Tinley adds.
On Thursday, 16 October, the Enviro Centre at the East London Aquarium will be officially opened, and there will be a lecture on climate change. The week will end with free entrance to the aquarium on Saturday, 18 October.
The Enviro Centre is a public information area inside the aquarium with information on marine animals ranging from whales and sharks to different types of fish.
Contact us:
