Divers collect 957 kg of litter in the seabed near Mina Port

More than 50 divers volunteered in the four hour cleanup

Nearly one ton of litter was collected during an underwater clean-up campaign organized by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi Saturday.

More than 50 divers from the Emirates Diving Association and other partner agencies volunteered in the four-hour campaign to remove debris from the seabed in the Mina Port near the Fishermen’s Wharf. The crew removed about 957 kg of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, food wrapper containers, abandoned fishing lines, construction materials and many other marine debris.

The campaign is one of a series of clean-up initiatives planned by the EAD under the theme ‘Together We Make The Difference’ in 2018 to mark the Year of Zayed.

"The Abu Dhabi Emirate has a wonderful mix of geological nature and valuable natural habitat and fragile species in both land and sea, which need protection,” said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, secretary-general of EAD. “Saving our environment and fulfilling our obligations to the natural environment must be the responsibility of all of us, at all levels of society to maintain the beauty of the Emirate’s beautiful beaches, and cultural and heritage assets.”