The Impact of Ocean Pollution: Insights from Save a Fishie’s Zoë Prinsloo

Founder and CEO of Save a Fishie in Cape Town, Zoë Prinsloo, was one of the panelists at The Our Oceans Conference in Busan, Korea, recently. 

IOL caught up with Prinsloo to ask her a few questions about South Africa’s oceans, challenges, and the main rubbish found along the coastlines. 

How serious is ocean pollution along SA’s coastlines, compared to other parts of the world? 

“I have cleaned all along South Africa’s coastline and I can say it is definitely a serious issue. It’s hard to comment on and compare to other parts of the world. I know my coastline fairly well. I feel many countries have their “prettier” looking beaches, while neglecting others. South Africa has a big litter problem, but not the worst, I feel. I would say South Africa has a larger effluent issue, regarding high E. coli levels and water sanitation. Making many of our beaches unsafe for public use.

What impact does ocean pollution have on local marine life and communities? 

Ocean pollution has such a damaging and far-reaching impact. I have seen firsthand the impact on marine life. I have seen communities drowning in litter. My organization’s name, “Save A Fishie”, originated from seeing firsthand the effects of plastic on our sea life.

I was cleaning our beach in Milnerton in Cape Town and pulled out a plastic packet from between the rocks. It started moving, and I poured the water out. A little fishie then swam out, and this heartwarming moment is when I realized that every piece of plastic removed from our environment can literally save a fishie.

Are you seeing any improvements or positive changes as a result of cleanup efforts?

This is a difficult question to answer, as cleaning seems to be a never-ending problem. We clean today, and tomorrow the litter is back. We once cleaned a beach on Milnerton, picking up over 650kg of litter, and when we went back the next day, it looked as if we had never cleaned there!!

Although I can say that from the 7 years of cleaning at Milnerton Lagoon, it is incredibly rewarding to have days where we can walk along the beach feeling proud of the progress we have made. Looking back at photos of when I first started cleaning there, compared to now, I feel that this beach would’ve been in a much worse state. I do want to believe we are making progress. I have to believe that. One positive thought is the awareness we are raising. I believe we are reaching more and more people, especially the children.

What areas or beaches in SA do you mainly focus on? 

My main focus is Lagoon Beach in Milnerton, where we clean nearly every weekend. But once a year, we embark on a 7-week beach clean-up campaign where we travel the entire coastline of South Africa doing beach cleanups, working with various schools, organisations, and local communities. We also do community cleanups in other areas.

What are the biggest challenges faced during cleanups?

The challenges vary from not having enough volunteers, weather conditions, running out of reusable gloves as volunteers sometimes take gloves home or throw them away, and, of course, funding is always a challenge. That’s why we do these crazy awareness campaigns to raise awareness, but also funds.

Can you describe a typical process of an ocean or beach cleanup event? 

Cleanups are incredibly easy! We supply bags and gloves, and after a brief intro, the volunteers head out to clean. When they come back, we weigh all the bags and record the kilograms collected. We sanitize, take a nice group photo and hand out waters. Sometimes we have sponsors who spoil our volunteers with handouts!

What kinds of waste of pollution do you usually find? 

We always find the usual suspects: plastic bottle tops and packets, nappies, lollipop and earbud sticks, clothing and shoes, and yes, we are still finding plastic straws!

We are also finding an alarming number of alcohol bottles. We also find an alarming number of surgical needles. We have found such a wide variety of items throughout our years cleaning, no matter how odd, strange, or far from the ocean it should be.

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