It is estimated that over 400 kilos of rubbish will be collected during the campaign.
The campaign comes following videos of rubbish lying on the bottom of the sea at Karon Beach going viral on social media last Thursday (Nov 19). (See story here)
V/Gov Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee told The Phuket News, “Usually, locals and tourists always have a beach cleanup day at Karon Beach on December 3, but this year, as it has been shown on social media that the rubbish was so bad, the date was brought forward.”
Director of Marine and Coastal Resources Region 6, Watcharin Thinthalang, added, “After seeing the videos we had to react quickly because we were afraid strong winds and currents would move the rubbish to the nearby corals.”
During the morning, the team recovered around 200 kilos of rubbish from the sea, and it is estimated that a further 200 kilos will be collected this afternoon.
Mr Watcharin said, “We expect that about 400 kilos or 80 per cent of the rubbish will be collected today. However, the remaining rubbish will be collected during the annual beach cleanup on December 3. On that day we will also investigate to see what damage has been caused to the coral.
“We have to do our best to protect our resources, it is very important for the locals way of living. “Today we have seen a lot of cooperation from locals, tourists and business owners who have come out to help clean Karon Beach. I'm very impressed,” he said.