QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News)– A huge whale was found on Thursday on the shores of a beach in Cavite, its mouth filled with plastic bottles and other wastes.
The clincher—the whale isn’t real.
The 15-meter-by-three-meter “creature” was actually only an art installation made to send a strong message against water pollution, and its detrimental effects on living sea creatures.
The installation was placed at the Sea Side Beach Resort in Naic for Association of Southeast Asian Nation leaders, in particular, to take concrete actions.
“We are asking the ASEAN membership to take this issue with a sense of urgency..(We) demand that our leaders initiate bold steps to address plastic pollution through regional cooperation, exacting corporate responsibility, and massive public education,” Vince Cinches, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines, said.
Cinches said that the ASEAN region’s contribution to plastic pollution in the oceans cannot be ignored as it was “already way beyond alarming.”
The Philippines, in particular, he said, remains the third highest contributor of wastes in the ocean, this despite the enactment of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
In December last year, a dead whale was found on Samal Island.
It is believed its death was caused by the plastic bags, fish nets, and steel wires, among others, found inside its stomach.
Around 30 sperm whales found on the shores of Europe during the first quarter of the year died for the same reason, the Greenpeace said.
Jodi Bustos, Eagle News Service