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FIFCA's day at the beach

Clean up in full swing

FIFCA clean up of Yorke Bay

 

FIFCA would like to publicly recognise and thank the sterling work that was undertaken to rid the Islands of the mines, culminating at Yorke Bay earlier this month. We thank ALL of those involved and in particular those who have spent many months away from their families in order that we may once again enjoy our country side. FIFCA recognise the part they play in the clean-up operation of Yorke Bay and were eager to get onto the beach as quickly as possible to make a start. Earlier this week, on a glorious Tuesday morning, a large group from FIFCA amassed at the bulldozer cut, (with the knowledge and support of the FIG Environment Dept) for an industry wide beach clean. Mindful that vehicles are to be banned from the beaches, we wanted to limit the amount of vehicles accessing the beach and made use of two Landrovers and a quad bike. The plan was to walk the length of the beach collecting and centralising the waste in order that the vehicles could collect from certain points.

 

Half way down the beach, the heavens open and we were subjected to what could be described as a prolonged, quite heavy shower, and when it passed, revealing more of the glorious sunshine that preceded it, FIFCA Executive Secretary, James Bates was thinking that if that was as bad as it was going to get, then we were going to be alright! The collection was now in full swing and it wasn’t long before were at the end of the beach, where we wanted to concentrate the majority of the efforts. We could not have been further away from our vehicles when we heard thunder and lightning from the Port Louis direction and we all had to resign ourselves to the fact that this was about to get wet, very wet!! It wasn’t long before the heavens opened once more and we were in the midst of a torrential downpour. All you could do at that point was laugh it off.

 

An estimated 18 cubic metres of debris deposited over that 38 years has been successfully dug up, collected and removed, but FIFCA are aware that the shapes of dunes and beaches change over time and that there will be other similar events organised in the future. There will also be monitoring programme introduced as we want to be pro-active with our approach to keeping the Yorke Bay area free from any washed up debris and as pristine free as possible. We would like to seek support from the community for this initiative and ask that if you are around the area and notice items washed ashore that could be attributed to the fishing industry that can’t be easily removed, then to let the FIFCA Exec Sec know on 22317, and he will arrange for its removal and disposal.

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