Veteran swimmer leads Fujian beach cleanup

Efforts by campaigner have reduced pollution and raised awareness

Cai Jiajian cuts a tough and legendary figure like The Old Man and the Sea. Yet unlike the fisherman in Ernest Hemingway's novel, he doesn't fight alone. Cai has the support of hundreds.

The 69-year-old native of Dongdawan in Fujian province has been cleaning up the beaches of his hometown since 2014. Along with his army of volunteers he has removed hundreds of tons of garbage from the shore.

"I have grown up and lived near water my entire life. People here earn a living from the sea. The sea is like our mother," Cai said, speaking in the Minnan dialect of southern Fujian.

Xiangzhi county, where Cai was born and raised, has 13.5 kilometers of coastline and is famous for its fishing industry.

Dongdawan means "Bay in the East" and was once a clean and quiet 1-km beach. Yet in recent years, sea currents and ocean pollution have degraded it into a dumping ground, with piles of marine debris washed up on the sand.

"You can't imagine," Cai said. "An endless tide of refuse including household garbage, fishing and construction waste piled up along the coast, stinking with a fishy odor."

Cai is a keen swimmer. In the past, Dongdawan was ideal for the sport due to its open and flat sands.

"The situation worsened to us coming across garbage every few meters in the water. I feel disgusted when I think of dangerous fishing nets in the sea. Our children swam there," he said.

Coastal communities had long dumped their waste into the sea because of a lack of garbage disposal plants.

"In recent years a burgeoning fishing industry has resulted in much more garbage, yet the people here have not changed the way they dispose of it," he said.

"It is an insult to leave the beach littered with refuse. I had to do something for my motherland."

Cai's wife, Chen Shenghua, 64, has been his supporter and partner. Both are in good physical shape. While Cai heads a community winter swimming organization, Chen leads the local tai chi association.

With the help of volunteers from these clubs, the couple led their first coastal cleanup in July 2014.

"Plastic bags, drinks bottles, dead fish and mice. You'd be surprised what can come in from the ocean. At the beginning we would collect about 20 metric tons each day," Cai said.

"Refuse above the sand was just the tip for the iceberg. We soon moved to using a digging machine for garbage that had been buried for years."

Cai recalled how locals would come and stare at him working stripped to the waist. In response, he would shout "It's our beach" and call on them to pitch in.

In 2015, Cai established a beach protection volunteer association. The organization now has about 240 members ages 20 to 80.

Over the years, he has led more than 500 cleanup activities and removed over 740 tons of garbage. The group has also started on other beaches in the county.

Efforts at building environmental awareness have certainly been successful.

"All the garbage buried in the sand has been removed. These days in Dongdawan you never see anyone dump anything. People feel ashamed when they see so many devoted to conservation," he said.

"But our work can never end because ocean currents will always be washing garbage in. The steps of our volunteers will continue with the rise and ebb."

Gazing down at the shore, which is today a much prettier site than when he started his work, he smiled.

"You see," Cai said, "when the tide is out, egrets fly down on the beach searching for food."

Contact the writers at zhangyi1@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/16/2017 page7)