DEQ Monthly Cleanup Brigade - International Coastal Cleanup

The Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Cleanup Brigade will deviate from its regular first Saturday of the monthly beach cleanup brigade in order to join the Coastal Resource Management’s (CRM) celebration of the 28th Annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) which is scheduled for Friday, September 20th and Saturday, September 21st on Saipan. Rota will be participating on September 20th and Tinian will be hosting theirs on September 18th.

DEQ encourages all regular volunteer individuals or groups to sign up and take part in this very good deed. If you would like to volunteer your time to clean and beautify our island by participating in the ICC, please contact a CRM ICC coordinator to sign up.

Saipan Coordinator: Nicole Schafer, 664-8312
Rota Coordinator: Bill Pendergrass, 532-0466
Tinian Coordinator: Edwin Hofschneider, 433-0494

Last month’s Aquarius Beach Cleanup was successful with 27 volunteers participating. Thanks to, NMC, WSR, KHS, HJHS, SSHS, Zoning, KKMP, and other volunteers about 300 pounds of trash was removed from the beach and properly disposed of.

The DEQ is looking forward to a repeat success, so join DEQ’s monthly cleanup brigade and “Pick It Up!” Let us work together for the health of our coral reefs and cleanliness of our beaches for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about volunteering, please contact the DEQ office at 664-8500/1.

International Coastal Cleanup 9/20 and 9/21

It is time for us to once again join the global community and raise awareness about our coastlines through the International Coastal Cleanup. Last year the CNMI had 2,035 participants pick up 10,915 pounds of trash at the International Coastal Cleanup event. This year we are aiming to increase the number of participants and hopefully decrease the amount of trash. Cleanups raise awareness and knowledge about the issues that face not only our oceans, but also our land. Trash endangers the health of humans, wildlife, and coastal economies. Now is the time to come together and work with the community to preserve and protect the land and the sea, even if it is only for one day. We would love to have you join the ICC team.

Saipan ICC will take place Friday, September 20 and Saturday, September 21. If you are interested in joining this event please find attached the sign up sheet and if you require further information contact Saipan Coordinator: Nicole Schafer, 664-8312.

Kind Regards,

Nicole Schafer

ICC Saipan Coordinator

Coastal Resources Management

DEQ Monthly Cleanup Brigade: Makaka Beach this Saturday, July 6, 2013 at 8 am

(DEQ) - The Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Cleanup Brigade will be at it again picking up trash at Makaka Beach this Saturday, July 6, 2013 at 8 am.

If you would like to volunteer your time to clean and beautify our island, please meet the DEQ representatives on Saturday at the Makaka Beach parking lot at 8 am. Volunteers will split into groups and clean until 10:00 am and break for drinks and then continue, if needed.

This month, outstanding brigade volunteers who participated in at least ten (10) monthly cleanups will receive a brigade cap and those who participated in at least three (3) cleanups will receive a brigade t-shirt.

Last month’s Obyan Beach Cleanup was successful with 21 volunteers participating. Thanks to, students from GTC Elementary, CK Head Start, Hopwood Jr. High, Saipan Southern High, staff from PSS, CJDA, and other volunteers, about 300 pounds of trash was removed from the beach and properly disposed of.

The DEQ is looking forward to a repeat success this Saturday, so join DEQ’s monthly cleanup brigade and “Pick It Up!” Let us work together for the health of our coral reefs and cleanliness of our beaches for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about volunteering, please contact the DEQ office at 664-8500/1.

DEQ Monthly Cleanup Brigade - Obyan Beach in June

 (DEQ) - The Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Cleanup Brigade will be at it again picking up trash at Obyan Beach this Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 8 am.

If you would like to volunteer your time to clean and beautify our island, please meet the DEQ representatives on Saturday at the Obyan Beach parking lot at 8 am.  Volunteers will split into groups and clean until 10:00 am and break for drinks and then continue, if needed. 

This month, outstanding brigade volunteers who participated in at least ten (10) monthly cleanups will receive a brigade cap and those who participated in at least three (3) cleanups will receive a brigade t-shirt. 

Last month’s Coral Ocean Point Beach Cleanup was successful with 26 volunteers participating. Thanks to, students from GTC and WSR Elementary, Hopwood Jr. High, Saipan Southern High, staff from Coral Ocean Point, and other volunteers about 440 pounds of trash was removed from the beach and properly disposed of.

The DEQ is looking forward to a repeat success this Saturday, so join DEQ’s monthly cleanup brigade and “Pick It Up!”  Let us work together for the health of our coral reefs and cleanliness of our beaches for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about volunteering, please contact the DEQ office at 664-8500/1.

Beautify CNMI joins global Shark Stanley campaign

Shark Stanley and Beautify CNMI volunteers

Shark Stanley, a charismatic hammerhead shark traveling the globe looking for people to help protect shark and ray species at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), has made his way to the shores of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Shark Stanley has partnered with local conservation organization Beautify CNMI! in order to organize local support for the proposals to protection five species of shark and two species of manta ray at CITES 16th Convention of the Parties to be held in Bangkok, Thailand March 3-16.

“The Commonwealth is already an international leader in shark management and it is only natural that we want to see sharks protected at a global level,” said Cinta Kaipat of Beautify CNMI. “As islanders dependent on the ocean, and as part of the United States, we want to see these protections go through.”

Leah Meth and Onon Bayasgalan, graduate students at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, created the Shark Stanley campaign so that the global youth would have a voice at CITES. Their goal is for at least 20 people in each of the 177 CITES member countries to participate in the Shark Stanley campaign.

“Our idea is to create a campaign that will stand out from the typical petitions you see,” said Meth. “Each photo will serve as a ‘signature,’ representing a person who supports shark protections at CITES.”

People can participate in the campaign by cutting out a paper copy of Shark Stanley and his friends Manta Reina, Pierre le Porbeagle, and Waqi Whitetip, and then taking photographs with the characters, and posting them to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, tagging their posts with #SharkStanley. Meth and Bayasgalan are compiling the photos and with release the petition during the CITES meeting in March.

“We are able to get our materials translated into other languages and cultures by partnering with dive shops and environmental organizations around the world,” said Bayasgalan. “We have reached 47 countries since we launched last month, and we’re hopeful we’ll get to 177 as the campaign grows.”

The Pacific countries voting at CITES are Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Northern Mariana Islands will be represented by the United States at the meeting. The United States is a cosponsor of the proposals to protect the oceanic whitetip shark.

More information on the Shark Stanley campaign can be found online:
http://www.sharkdefenders.com/p/shark-stanley.html

DEQ Monthly Cleanup Brigade

(DEQ) - The Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Cleanup Brigade will be at it again picking up trash at Tank Beach this Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 8 am.

If you would like to volunteer your time to clean and beautify our island, please meet the DEQ representatives on Saturday at the Tank Beach Parking lot at 8 am.  Volunteers will split into groups and clean until 10:00 am and break for drinks and then continue, if needed. 

This month, outstanding brigade volunteers who participated in at least ten (10) monthly cleanups will receive a brigade cap and those who participated in at least three (3) cleanups will receive a brigade t-shirt. 

Last month’s Paupau Beach Cleanup was successful with over 50 volunteers participating. Thanks to, SSHS YEA Club, CUC, MINA, MAFEA and other volunteers about 260 pounds of trash was removed from the beach and properly disposed off.

The DEQ is looking forward to a repeat success this Saturday, so join DEQ’s monthly cleanup brigade and “Pick It Up!”  Let us work together for the health of our coral reefs and cleanliness of our beaches for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about volunteering, please contact the DEQ office at 664-8500/1.

First Friday Films to Celebrate 2nd Anniversary with “Ocean Frontiers”

Come help us celebrate First Friday Film's 2^nd anniversary and World Oceans Day!  They're celebrating by showing the film Ocean Frontiers, sponsored by the Pacific Marine Resources Institute on June 1st, 2012 at 6:30pm at the American Memorial Park Visitors Center. Following the film, audience members will also be invited into the courtyard of the Visitor’s Center for a brief reception.

Ocean Frontiers takes us on an inspiring voyage to seaports and watersheds across the country—from the busy shipping lanes of Boston Harbor to a small fishing community in the Pacific Northwest; from America’s coral reefs in the Florida Keys to the nation’s premier seafood nursery in the Mississippi Delta. Here we meet a mixture of unlikely allies, of industrial shippers and whale biologists, pig farmers and wetland ecologists, sport and commercial fishermen, reef snorkelers and many more, all of them embarking on a new course of cooperation, in defense of the seas that sustain us.  Filmed in HD, Ocean Frontiers is a documentary and outreach campaign to inspire and mobilize audiences to better care for the ocean, for the good of all.

Exhibits by DEQ Marine Monitoring Team, Pacific Marine Resources Institute, and Marianas Island Nature Alliance will be on display in the lobby area of the American Visitors Center before and after the film. After the film and courtyard reception, movie-goers are invited to join the First Friday Films crew for dinner at Spicy Thai across from the Park to discuss the films they’ve viewed and the future of our film program.

First Friday Films is a monthly film series brought to you through a partnership with the National Park Service and the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), with generous support from community groups and organizations such as the Pacific Marine Resources Institute, which is sponsoring this film.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 80 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. 

Find more information about the film at www.firstfridayfilmssaipan.blogspot.com. Subscribe to the blog for regular updates on upcoming events.