Cork cleans up in Ocean Hero Awards shortlist

Five groups from Cork have been shortlisted in the Clean Coasts’ Ocean Hero Awards. The awards pay tribute to the contributions made by Clean Coasts volunteers, groups, and communities in safeguarding coastal and marine life.

Established in 2006 as the Clean Coasts' Merit Awards, the accolades initially featured a single category, over the years however, the programme has evolved, engaging over 2,000 Clean Coasts groups and 40,000 volunteers, and becoming an part of coastal communities nationwide. This year also marks Clean Coasts 20th anniversary.

The first nomination is Proinsias Ó Tuama, from Clean Coasts Ballynamona, who was shortlisted in the Individual of the year category. Proinsias is the volunteer who started Clean Coasts Ballynamona by picking up litter on his local beach, and the group has now grown to include East Cork Biodiversity and Planet Ireland, under the umbrella of Sea Land and Trust. He works with school groups, university groups and corporates, looking for challenging areas of litter that need attention.

Clean Coasts Ballynamona was also nominated in the Event of the Year category for running a school beach clean in beaches in East and West Cork in May and June. Over the two main days in East Cork, there was 500 students with another 100 students in West Cork. The event included 4 stations for the students, three focused on marine themed workshops and one clean up station.

St Colman's Community College, in conjunction with Ballynamona Clean Coasts, were nominated in the Youth of the Year category. In 2023, St Colman's were integral in facilitating in the Big Little Beach Clean that saw over 600 students from 14 different schools go to the coast. The Environmental Society of the school is also engaged in several projects around litter prevention in the town of Midleton and in the school. This year they have conducted beach cleans on Pilmore, Redbarn, ClayCastle, Front Strand, Ardnahinch, Ballynamona, Ballinwilling and Ballycrennane., with Ballybranagan being done after the awards last year.

Cobh Island Clean Coasts groups were also nominated in the Event of the Year category for their Big Beach Clean 2023 event. This nomination is for three groups who cleaned up the great island of Cobh: Ballymore Community Association, Clean Coasts Cobh and Cobh Tidy Towns. These groups joined forces to remove litter from different areas of the island, involving over 40 volunteers and removing 55 bags of marine litter.

Mark Maccarthy, a Clean Coasts volunteer based in Schull, was shortlisted in the Campaigner of the year category. Mark cleans the coastline and encouraging others to take an active interest in maintaining the local marine environment litter-free. He also goes out to the islands locally to retrieve sea pollution.

Finally, Siuloid@CCRC were nominated in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion category. Siuloid@CCRC (walking group at Clonakilty Community Resource Centre) run a monthly beach clean at Inchydoney Beach in West Cork. Several bags of rubbish are collected each visit, which Clean Coasts commented makes “a visible and meaningful difference to the environment.”