For the second consecutive 12 months, the fishing neighborhood of Malvan, together with environmentalists and a number of authorities companies, has joined palms to take away heaps of marine particles, choking the biodiverse waters of Maharashtra’s Konkan coast. The newest cleanup drive, held on December 9 and 10, noticed a workforce of 10 skilled scuba divers and 12 volunteers retrieve practically 650 kilograms of waste, together with ghost nets, plastic wrappers, bottles, cans, and fiberglass fragments, from depths of as much as 30 ft close to Sindhudurg Fort.
The initiative, spearheaded by Vanashakti’s coastal wing Sagarshakti, was performed in collaboration with the Maharashtra Air pollution Management Board (MPCB), Mangrove Cell, State Fisheries Division, Malvan Nagar Parishad, Fisheries Survey of India, and native scuba divers’ associations. It marks the primary drive underneath Section II of the Marine Particles Cleanup Undertaking, which goals to accentuate efforts to guard fragile coral reef ecosystems and marine biodiversity alongside the Malvan coast.
“That is the second 12 months of the drive,” mentioned Nandakumar Waman Pawar, environmentalist and conventional fisherman who heads Sagarshakti’s coastal initiatives. “Final 12 months, we performed eight drives between October 2024 and April 2025 and eliminated practically 3,000 kilos of waste. This 12 months, we plan 10 drives—two each month—although we began late because of tough monsoon seas and poor visibility.”
The cleanup centered on high-impact websites round Sindhudurg Fort, a marine biodiversity hotspot frequented by vacationers. Bhushan Juwatkar, an area fishermanfolk {and professional} scuba diver mentioned, the findings have been alarming, “A number of coral buildings have been discovered entangled in ghost nets, severely proscribing their development and threatening marine life that will depend on these reefs for shelter and breeding. This starkly underscores how poor waste administration on land ultimately travels by way of drains, creeks, and rivers to the ocean ground, the place it continues to hurt ecosystems invisible to the general public. eyes.”
The workforce clear the core areas round Sindhudurg Fort. , Photograph Credit score: Particular Association
The particles collected throughout this drive weighed roughly 400 kg from reef zones alone, with ghost nets accounting for practically 60% of the waste. Different gadgets included plastic bottles, metallic cans, sacks, glass bottles, and fiberglass fragments from boats, Mr. Pawar mentioned.
In June 2025, Vanashakti submitted an in depth proposal titled “Clear Shore Initiative — Massive Scale Marine Particles Clear-Up Drive alongside the Coast of Malvan, Sindhudurg” to MPCB, the State Fisheries Division, Mangrove Cell, Malvan Nagar Parishad, and different stakeholders. The proposal seeks to construct on preliminary successes by fostering neighborhood participation, elevating consciousness, and establishing sustainable waste administration practices to guard marine biodiversity and native livelihoods.
The divers emphasised that marine particles not solely threatens aquatic biodiversity but additionally impacts fisheries, tourism, and coastal livelihoods.
“Marine litter is likely one of the most urgent environmental threats of the twenty first century,” Mr. Pawar mentioned, citing international estimates that 8 to 12 million metric tons of plastic waste enter oceans yearly, with projections indicating this might triple by 2040 with out intervention. “Initiatives like this cleanup function each mitigation and consciousness instruments, reminding communities that what we discard irresponsibly on land in the end returns as an ecological disaster at sea.”
Malvan, situated in Sindhudurg district, is a tourism hub famend for its coral reefs and marine treasures. The workforce needs to wash the core areas round Sindhudurg Fort and referred to as upon residents, native our bodies, and policymakers to strengthen waste administration methods and curb plastic use on the supply.
“This profitable drive stands as a powerful instance of neighborhood participation, inter-departmental collaboration, and science-backed motion coming collectively to guard India’s treasured coastal ecosystems. We attraction to the locals to hitch palms for this noble trigger in sustaining wholesome marine, coral wealthy ecosystem of Sindhudurg district which is the primary marine century of Maharashtra,” Mr. Pawar mentioned.
Printed – December 12, 2025 09:30 am IST