Rob Rector
The Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation (MERR) Institute’s hosted its own World Ocean Day Celebration at its facility on Saturday, June 8, 2024, joining more than 10,000 organizations hosting 15,000 events in more than 140 countries around the globe to celebrate the day.
The event began at 8 a.m. with about 20 people participating in a beach clean-up of Beach Plumb Island Nature Preserve where they collected more than 20 pounds of refuse, while others participated online by posting their own beach cleanup pictures and displaying them online by including #MERRWorldOcean24.
Items from the Beach Plum cleanup were placed in a large hand-crafted sea turtle for the public to see the various tidal refuse found along local coastlines.
The event continued from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at both the MERR facility on Pilottown Road as well as the University of Delaware’s Cannon Lab. At the MERR facility, an education exhibit showcased actual marine mammals and sea turtle fossils, a number of games and crafts for children, photo opportunity areas, and more.
At 1 p.m., MERR hosted a screening of Saving the Right Whale, emceed by Lean Rizzo, host of Coast Life on WRDE. The screening was led by Marcus Reamer, whale and dolphin conservation expert and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. The screening of the film was followed by an audience discussion to learn even more about the making of the film.Reamer was joined by MERR Executive Director Suzanne Thurman and Sara Wilkin, National Stranding and Emergency Response Coordinator from NOAA.
About World Ocean Day
Each year, the event spotlights a particular area of concern for the ocean (since there are a multitude of issues it faces). For 2024, the focus was “Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate” and includes:
the best use of all existing climate solutions
accelerating a transition to clean and renewable energy
stopping fossil fuel extraction, including oil, gas, and coal
phasing out its existing production of single-use plastics
amplifying the voices of leaders working to implement action within their communities;
protecting and restoring natural coastal and ocean ecosystems (and on land) by creating protected areas covering at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030
creating solutions at the local, national, and international levels based on the best science
Locally, a report published in “Science Advances” has uncovered that the Delaware River is one of the rivers dumping the most plastic pollution into the ocean. According to the study, more than 283,000 pounds of plastic waste are carried by the Delaware River and dumped into the ocean each year.
According to a 2016 article in The News Journal the Delaware Beaches alone amass about 10 to 11 tons of trash every day. The issues facing the oceans are well beyond what a single day can fix, and while World Ocean Day is but one day, there are a number of activities you can engage in throughout the year to help focus on oceanic health.
Beach clean-ups: It may seem like a Sisyphean-like task: picking up the various bits of refuse littering our local beaches, only to have more trash return the following days, weeks, and months. But clean-ups do more than temporarily beautify the beaches. It also serves as a role model for others as conscientious beach behavior.
Shop with awareness: Of the 8 million metric tons of plastic that make their way into the world’s oceans annually, 236,000 tons are microplastics. You can prevent the creation of microplastics by eliminating the number of plastics you use daily (from takeout utensils to bottles of water). On the site beatthemicrobead.org, you can find a country-by-country listing of products (skincare, toothpaste, soaps, cleaners) with and without microplastics.
Refuse to use plastic: If you like sipping from the straw at restaurants, bring your own reusable stainless steel straw. Consider reusable wax-lined bags instead of single-use sandwich bags. And lastly, shop with reusable canvas bags.
Make sure you are recycling right: If you are unsure of what is and isn’t recycled in your area, enter your zip code here: www.iwanttoberecycled.org). Just because a product has that little triangle with arrows on it doesn’t mean it is ready to recycle.
Plans are in the works for the 2025 World Ocean Day celebration, scheduled for Sunday, June 8, 2025, so follow MERR Institute for more information about ways you can participate in the festivities.