DM launches Marasina campaign

Dubai Municipality on Tuesday launched its annual "Marasina" campaign, which aims to raise awareness among the public, especially sailors, owners and workers of boats, workers of shipping companies and oil tankers and fishermen as well as school students about the importance of preserving the marine environment. The campaign is being held from 15-17 February.

The campaign highlighted the problems of the marine environment and sought to protect it by intensifying efforts to keep it clean and prevent it from any pollution with the participation of different categories of the community members of various nationalities and groups to clean up and recycle the waste recovered from the bottom of the sea and the creek.

The Municipality also aims to strengthen national identity by integrating the heritage of the local people during environmental occasions, and draw the attention towards the tradition to introduce the public about the role of the forefathers in the preservation of the environment.

Launching the campaign at Mamzar Beach, Eng. Hussein Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality said that the campaign stems from the belief of Dubai Municipality that the sea constitutes an integral environmental system and pollution brought by ships could have a devastating effect on the marine ecology, which is linked to human beings, and that increased pollution from marine navigation would also threaten some marine areas to death, especially those that suffer from chronic pollution.

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The campaign, which is being organized by Dubai Municipality for the sixth year in a row, was opened at the Mamzar area with presentations of environmental skits by students from Salma Al Ansariya School.

An awareness tent, which aims to raise public awareness on preserving the marine environment and introduce them the activities and the role of Dubai Municipality in protecting it, has also been set up at the Mamzar Beach area. The environmental awareness exhibition organized in the tent by the participating departments display photos of the efforts to protect the marine environment, in addition to the achievements of the Marasina campaign in the past five years, and five paintings that depicts the marine environment, and five images of Clean Up the World campaign and the contribution of the Waste Management Department in cleaning up the marine environment.

Some traditional marine equipments are also on display to highlight the role of ancestors in preserving the marine environment.  In addition, educational leaflets were distributed to the public by the Waste Management and Food Control departments of the Municipality. Specialists from the concerned departments were available to answer questions and enquiries from the audience and educate them.

An awareness film show, environmental workshops for students and the public on the marine environment and another workshop by the Waste Management Department on utilizing waste items, as well as entertainment skits and competitions and shows on environment and heritage are also being held in the tent.

For the first time, a traditional market is also organized as part of the Marasina campaign, which will continue for three days. The market displays traditional food items and other traditional items including perfumes for sale.

The participating bodies such as Dubai Police, schools and sponsoring companies of the campaign were honoured by Lootah during the opening ceremony.

The Marasina campaign will also include the clean up operations at Jaddaf area on Wednesday with the participation of a number of divers from the Marine Rescue Department and the Marine Pollution Control Centre at Dubai Police and the Fire and Rescue Department at Civil Defence with the support of Waste Management, Environment of Dubai Municipality and Jaddaf Dubai. The divers will remove abandoned ships submerged in the bottom of the creek, which is estimated to weigh hundreds of tons.

The campaign, organized by Dubai Municipality in the past year resulted in the lifting of about 46 tons of marine waste with the participation of more than 1.500 volunteers.