Politicians went diving

Two politicians went diving on Sunday, 31.03.2019 in order to collect trash on the bottom of the sea. Councillor Elvis Comic and MP Christian Rabjerg Madsen both joined up when Ocean Adventures Dykkercenter, for the 5thyear in a row, held their “clean up” of the seabed and the beach at Løverodde beach near Kolding.

The yearly trash clean up by Denmark’s Naturfredningsforening took place last Sunday – the same day as Ocean Adventures hold their first trash clean-up of the year at Løverodde Beach near Kolding. The seashore is adopted through Project Aware Fonden.

50 divers, swimmers and beach enthusiasts helped, as a group, in collecting 150 kg. of trash in just 4 hours. Ocean Adventures has adopted the shoreline at Løverodde and have thereby committed themselves to clean up the area, collect data in the area in cooperation with the environmental organization Project Aware.

This Sunday, two politicians, Councillor Elvis Comic and MP Christian Rabjerg Madsen, decided to join the clean up in order to create focus on the problematic trash in the sea.

“First of all, it was a fun experience to look closer at life in Kolding Fjord, as it was my first time in full diving gear. This said, it was shocking to see, that in just a matter of twenty minutes, we were able to find such great amounts of plastic, tires, bottles and fishing equipment at such a relative low depth. Each minute a truckload of plastic is thrown into the seas of the world and unfortunately, Kolding apparently gets it share. This calls for political attention and not in the least a change of attitude among people in general. We simply have to stop using nature as a dustbin. A big thanks to Ocean Adventures Dykkercenter for this experience and for your great efforts for a cleaner fjord”. Says Christian Rabjerg Madsen, MP, and Environmental Speaker for the Social Demokrater.

Martin Pedersen, owner of Ocean Adventures, is grateful that politicians listen to the message from the sea. Obviously, when arranging such events, one wishes for trash to be found, but at the same time, it hurts the heart to see such great amounts of trash can be found just within 4 hours. It is amazing that we can still find trash on the bottom after 5 years. Last year, it was 250 kg. This event is an isolated thing; however, facts are that there is a lot of trash out there in the seas from people. With the speed, we fill the seas; there is a serious environmental problem for the next generation. Martin Pedersen hopes that this topic will set in motion the debate in the upcoming parliament – as this really deserves to be heard and paid attention to.