DUNDRUM COASTAL ROWING CLUB AWARDED £18k TO TACKLE MARINE LITTER BLIGHT
Maria McLaughlin Wed 13 Mar 2024
The maiden voyage of Dundrum Coastal Rowing Clubs new marine litter boat took place last Saturday 9th March 2024.
This new boat will allow for the recovery of litter in areas of Dundrum Bay that cannot be safely reached by foot. Speaking about the project funded by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. Cathal Ó hÍr from Dundrum Coastal Rowing Club said, “We are delighted to have been awarded funding for the shallow draft boat, which will allow us to carry out regular clean ups along Dundrum Bay and its four contributing rivers. This boat will provide access to areas not safely reachable from land. This will help, not only to improve the shoreline in terms of biodiversity and aesthetics, but also the health and wellbeing of our local community. We will also be able to carry out educational awareness projects demonstrating how marine litter can damage our beautiful area and how with this boat we can alleviate this harm”.
Chris Gourley, Waste and Pollutions Solution Strategic Lead at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful says, “This grant scheme is designed to reduce the environmental impact of litter on our marine eco systems. We have been delighted with the diverse range of innovative projects this year which want to tackle waste entering the marine environment as well as removing what is already there. Marine litter is a global challenge, affecting the world’s oceans, seas, coastlines and shores. A wide range of material such as plastics, metals and glass end up in our marine environments and these all decompose very slowly if at all. The most commonly found litter is plastic.”
Photo Caption: from left Orla McGrady Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, members of Dundrum Coastal Rowing Club - Cathal Ó hír, Adrian Mullan, Andrew Boyd (club chair) and Robert Graham.