Facts & Tips on Feeding Koi and Pond Fish: cleanup

Blue Reef Aquarium wants local people to support a big beach clean up on Thursday, October 9 meeting at the aquarium at 11am.

Volunteers will be given bin bags, gloves and a form to record their finds as they clean up the stretch of beach beside the aquarium.

“Hastings Borough Council has kindly agreed to provide us with a selection of litter picking tools and volunteers from Clean Seas Please will also be lending a hand,” said Blue Reef’s Leanna Lawson.

“The plan is to meet up at the aquarium at 11am on the day so everyone can be registered and issued with cleaning items, datasheets and beach clean booklets.

“All the rubbish that we collect on the day will be brought back to the aquarium where it will be separated out and individually itemised. After that we will recycle as much of it as we possibly can while the rest will be disposed of safely in an extra refuse container” she added.

The event has been arranged as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Great British Beach Clean’ initiative. If you are under 17 and want to take part you will need to be accompanied by an adult. Please wear sensible footwear and clothing.

To take part please contact the aquarium on 01424 718776 before the event.

Volunteers wanted for Blue Reef beach clean-up effort

DETROIT (AP) – Volunteers plan to converge Saturday on Detroit’s Belle Isle for a spring cleanup and the transfer of koi into a pond outside the island’s more than century-old aquarium.

The cleanup runs 9 a.m. to noon, and the Belle Isle Aquarium’s koi transfer takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fish spend the winter indoors, and volunteers interested in helping move them should bring a new 5-gallon bucket or a new 20- to 30-gallon plastic tote with a lid.

“Parents bring their kids thinking that they will just watch, but usually they end up in the pond too,” Jennifer Boardman, the co-chair of the Belle Isle Aquarium Committee, said in a statement.

More volunteers are being sought for both events. Food and drinks will be provided to those who help. Detroit Synergy’s Spring into Nature Belle Isle 5K Run/Walk also takes place at 10 a.m.

The aquarium operates through the Belle Isle Conservancy, which is coordinating this weekend’s events. Belle Isle in February became a state park, with the Department of Natural Resources taking over management as part of a cost-cutting effort for bankrupt Detroit.

The aquarium also is extending its hours. Starting the weekend of June 7 it will be open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., instead of just on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. After being closed for years, the aquarium reopened to the public in September 2012.

“This is all due to volunteer support,” Vance Patrick, Belle Isle Conservancy board member, said of the expanded hours.

For the cleanup, volunteers are asked to register in advance online. They should check in at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Belle Isle Casino and dress for the weather, wearing boots and gloves. They’re asked to bring their own lawn rake, if possible, to help.

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Online:

Belle Isle Conservancy: http://www.belleisleconservancy.org

DNR’s Belle Isle information: http://www.belleislepark.org

Cleanup registration: https://BelleIsleSpringCleanUp.eventbrite.com

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Spring cleanup, koi transfer planned on Belle Isle