Youth lead initiatives remove 12,068 kg pollutants from Cox’s Bazar sea beaches | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 22, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2025
Youth lead initiatives remove 12,068 kg pollutants from Cox’s Bazar sea beaches

Bangladesh

TBS Report
24 January, 2022, 06:45 pm
Last modified: 24 January, 2022, 06:53 pm

Related News

  • Financing nature: Sustainable solutions for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh
  • Biodiversity finance initiative launched to mobilise finance for nature
  • How planned plant distribution could make Dhaka more livable
  • Bangladesh faces billion-dollar annual losses as marine heatwaves intensify: Study
  • BAU, Murdoch University conduct joint research on agricultural conservation

Youth lead initiatives remove 12,068 kg pollutants from Cox’s Bazar sea beaches

The initiative will cover St Martin’s Island as well in 2022

TBS Report
24 January, 2022, 06:45 pm
Last modified: 24 January, 2022, 06:53 pm
Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

Blue Guards, a youth fisher led beach cleaning initiative mobilised by ECOFISH II, removed 12,068 kg pollutants from sea beaches covering Cox's Bazar Sadar, Moheshkhali, Ramu, Teknaf, Ukhiya and Kuakata areas in 2021.

The Blue Guards participated in waste removal efforts in the sea beach areas and collected non-decomposable garbage including plastic bottles, polythene bags and sheets, food packets, single-use plastics, and discarded nets during March-December 2021, said a press release. 

A Blue Guard, Tarek, said, "Plastic pollutants remain in the sea for a long time, which have long term harmful effects on fish and other animals. We are collecting debriefs from the coastline regularly to conserve the ocean and fish."

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

WorldFish Bangladesh engaged local youth (aged 18-35 years old) like Tarek around Cox's Bazar and the Kuakata sea beach areas and in the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Area (MPA) under its USAID funded initiative - Enhanced Coastal Fisheries in Bangladesh 2 (ECOFISH II).

Dr M A Wahab, team leader of ECOFISH II said "Ocean is the home of the most of the world's biodiversity and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the Globe, but ocean pollution reached to the alarming level day by day,"

"Aiming to conserve marine biodiversity and optimising potential of the blue economy in Bangladesh, we have mobilised the Blue Guards."

The Blue Guards have received training from the ECOFISH II on various aspects of beach cleaning and marine biodiversity conservation and have been equipped with the necessary logistics including jerseys, trousers, caps and shoes.

"A significant number of people are involved in fishing in Bangladesh. Their lives and livelihoods depend on the ocean. Recognising the youth potential, ECOFISH II involved youth fishers as Blue Guards to keep the coastal waters clean," Dr Wahab reiterated.

So far, about 100 youths, of which 20% are women, are engaged as the Blue Guards. The number will be increased to 200 and the initiative will cover St Martin's Island as well in 2022. 

The Blue Guards, after collecting plastics and discarded fishing nets from coastal waters and beaches, dispose of those materials through linking with the local plastic recycling system or storing them in a safer place. 

In addition, they are voluntarily working with the EOCFISH II team in marine biodiversity conservation and developing awareness among the fishermen to sympathetically treat the megafauna, sharks, turtles, dolphin, porpoises and small whales if they are knotted in the fishing nets and carefully release them into the waters. 

The practice of releasing knotted turtles and dolphins has gained popularity among artisanal fishing boat skippers.

Biodiversity / conservation / Marine

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A US Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber (C) is flanked by 4 US Marine Corps F-35 fighters during a flyover of military aircraft down the Hudson River and New York Harbor past York City, and New Jersey, US 4 July, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
    B-2 bombers moving to Guam amid Middle East tensions, US officials say
  • Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain at the 51st Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey on 21 June 2025. Photo: Courtesy
    Bangladesh urges global community to hold Israel accountable for its actions
  • The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers convened in Istanbul on Saturday. Photo: Collected
    OIC foreign ministers condemn Israeli aggression, call for regional unity

MOST VIEWED

  • BUET Professor Md Ehsan stands beside his newly designed autorickshaw—just 3.2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide—built for two passengers to ensure greater stability and prevent tipping. With a safety-focused top speed of 30 km/h, the vehicle can be produced at an estimated cost of Tk1.5 lakh. Photo: Junayet Rashel
    Buet’s smart fix for Dhaka's autorickshaws
  • Collage of the two Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) students -- Swagata Das Partha (left) and Shanto Tara Adnan (right) -- who have been arrested over raping a classmate after rendering her unconscious and filming nude videos. Photos: Collected
    2 SUST students held for allegedly rendering female classmate unconscious, raping her, filming nude videos
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    3-month interim extension sought for Saif Powertec to operate Ctg port terminal
  • Photo: Collected
    All BTS members officially complete military service as Suga gets discharged
  • Dhaka Medical College students demonstrate over five demands in front of the institution's main gate in Dhaka on 21 June 2025. Photo: Courtesy
    Dhaka Medical College closed indefinitely amid protests over accommodation, students ordered to vacate halls
  • Infographic: TBS
    Airlines struggle to acquire planes amid global supply shortage

Related News

  • Financing nature: Sustainable solutions for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh
  • Biodiversity finance initiative launched to mobilise finance for nature
  • How planned plant distribution could make Dhaka more livable
  • Bangladesh faces billion-dollar annual losses as marine heatwaves intensify: Study
  • BAU, Murdoch University conduct joint research on agricultural conservation

Features

Illustration: TBS

Examophobia tearing apart Bangladesh’s education system

1h | Panorama
Airmen look at a GBU-57, or Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, US in 2023. Photo: Collected

Is the US preparing for direct military action in Iran?

12h | Panorama
Monsoon in Bandarban’s hilly hiking trails means endless adventure — something hundreds of Bangladeshi hikers eagerly await each year. But the risks are sometimes not worth the reward. Photo: Collected

Tragedy on the trail: The deadly cost of unregulated adventure tourism in Bangladesh’s hills

1d | Panorama
BUET Professor Md Ehsan stands beside his newly designed autorickshaw—just 3.2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide—built for two passengers to ensure greater stability and prevent tipping. With a safety-focused top speed of 30 km/h, the vehicle can be produced at an estimated cost of Tk1.5 lakh. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Buet’s smart fix for Dhaka's autorickshaws

1d | Features

More Videos from TBS

The strategy that keeps Iran alive despite US sanctions

The strategy that keeps Iran alive despite US sanctions

1h | Others
What Badiul Alam Majumder said about the election of representatives to the upper house

What Badiul Alam Majumder said about the election of representatives to the upper house

1h | TBS Today
No chance of postponing LDC graduation: Commerce Secretary

No chance of postponing LDC graduation: Commerce Secretary

1h | TBS Today
The budget has put too much pressure on the private sector: Shamim Ehsan

The budget has put too much pressure on the private sector: Shamim Ehsan

2h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net