Children had fun and learned about sharks during Nature Foundation’s Kids Shark Day at Buccaneer Beach Bar.
PELICAN--Nature Foundation St Maarten organised Kids Shark Day at Buccaneer Beach Bar for the fourth consecutive year. About 130 children attended Saturday’s event and had lots of fun learning about the importance of sharks and their role in the ocean.
Shark Day is also designed to introduce children to the beauty and importance of oceans and marine life. Kids Shark Day shows the public that sharks are not frightening and dangerous, but that humans depend on sharks to have healthy oceans.
“The interactive Shark Scavenger Hunt kept the kids active for a long while and taught them about the different shark species and their characteristics. The kids learned that sharks are actually very cool and are impressive with over 500 different species and adaptations to live in our oceans. This year the shark claying and face painting was very popular by the children. However, all our shark activities were packed with enthusiastic kids,” stated Nature Foundation projects officer Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.
“Many people fear sharks and would rather have them being hunted and killed than alive. However, we should be afraid if we do not see sharks in the ocean, because it means the ocean is in a bad state. Healthy oceans need sharks. We should be proud to have sharks in our ocean and protect them for our future generations.”
During Shark Day children could also show their creativity and artistic talents by making shark art from waste items under the guidance of the WasteFactory.
“Many kids proudly showed their beautiful shark art-to-use made from single-use plastics. It is important to show children that trash can have a second life and every item can be used again. Re-use is the way to go.
“Too often we use these harmful plastics only once, but forget about the impacts of them on our environment and the effort it took to make them. Single-use plastics should be refused by all of us in order to keep our island clean and healthy. However, if you use any, please, re-use it and don’t litter,” explained Meijer zu Schlochtern.
Nature Foundation thanked all volunteers for their dedicated enthusiasm in assisting in the event, with special thanks going to the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine students who assisted in the event during their Community Action Day.
Nature Foundation also thanked its sponsors and prize donators, as well as all participating children and their parents for joining the event.
