In response to World Cleanup Day, the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) and the Forestry Bureau, in cooperation with the Yilan County Government, the Yunlin County Government and the Tainan City Government, organized marine debris and beach cleanup activities on September 17. Through the marine debris salvaging operation by the environmental protection fleet to beach cleanup activities on the coastal security forest, 5,865 kilograms of marine waste (4,810 kilograms of general waste and 1,055 kilograms of recyclable waste) were removed to create a sound marine environment and protect the sustainable development of the coast and the ocean together.
Since 2020, the Executive Yuan has been actively promoting the "Salute to the Ocean" policy, integrating the resources of the central ministries and cooperating with 19 local governments with coastal regions to establish a marine cleanup mechanism to protect the marine environment. The OCA and the local government have recruited 5,186 environmental protection vessels to encourage fishermen to bring waste and resource recovery materials to shore for sorting and recycling through the exchange and incentive mechanisms. As of August 2022, the environmental protection fleet has brought back 76 tons of marine debris, in addition to fishermen bringing back waste fishing nets for recycling, most of them were categorized as plastic bottles and glass bottles. The OCA calls on the public to start from themselves to reduce the use of disposable products from the source.
Julia Hsiang-Wen Huang, Director-General of the OCA expressed her gratitude to the National Forest Volunteer Association of the Forestry Bureau for initiating the beach clean-up activity and to the Tainan City Water Environment Protection Volunteers for their joint response. As to the beach cleanup activity, she especially thanked the Yilan County Government, Yunlin County Government and Tainan City Government for mobilizing the environmental protection fleet to assist in the marine environmental cleanup operation, and to raise public awareness of marine conservation through the marine cleanup activities. She hopes that more organizations will join the ranks of protecting the marine environment and provide the public with a quality recreational environment, so that they can embrace the ocean and experience its beauty. The OCA and the Forestry Bureau will continue to combine public and private resources to solve the problem of marine debris and maintain a beautiful marine environment together.
 
Responsible Authority and Spokesperson: Hsin-Chen Sung, OCA Deputy Director-General
Contact number: 07-3382057 or 0905-205-669