World Oceans Day

Today is World Oceans Day and this year’s overall theme is ‘Our Ocean, Our Future,’ encouraging solutions to plastic pollution and preventing marine litter for a healthier ocean and a better future.
The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport has gone to the next level to educate the younger population about the importance of ending plastic pollutions. The IMMS has put in place a Clean Beaches Program that strives to teach children to become better stewards of their environment. Clean Beaches Program Leader Denise Reinke said, “So, when we go out onto the beaches, in addition to learning about the fish and learning about everything that is in that environment, we also talk about marine debris and how it effects the animals that live out there and we actually do beach clean ups and pick up some of the debris and throw that away.”
The children learn what the negative effects of plastic pollution can do to animals in the ocean and the program also teaches them to care about the environment at an early age.