5 June 2010 - On World Environment Day, 19 energetic volunteers heeded Andy's call to clean up our beloved Tanah Merah shore that has been hit quite badly by the recent oil spill.
Unlike East Coast Park and Changi Beach, this shore hardly sees visitors and is thus not cleaned as regularly. This is a great pity, as Tanah Merah is rich with marine life!
Our objective this morning is to remove plastic bottles and other light debris which may be coated with crude oil from the shore. But just as we were about to set off, lightning and heavy rain descended on us and the team had to spend almost an hour waiting for the storm to blow itself out.
The poor shore is coated with a layer of crude oil. Even the sand is stained black! It's sad to see our beautiful shore strewn with rubbish, many of which were coated in crude oil. Apart from lots of discarded plastic bottles and styrofoam debris, other items we came across include shovels, ropes, buckets and rubber gloves.
Trash picking is pretty back-breaking work. Some of the crude-soaked rubbish are really heavy! The bags of trash were gathered and left on the high shore as Andy had made prior arrangements with NEA to dispose them.
The team of 19 collected 85 bags of rubbish in 2 hours! Here's the team in high spirits at the end of the clean up session.Ria and Kok Sheng also took the opportunity to check out the marine life on the oil-slicked shore. And one of the casualties spotted this morning is....
Ria's swimming camera! It bravely took a dip in the oil-covered lagoon to check out the situation underwater. Read Ria's blog to find out how the marine creatures are doing.
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