Pupils explore trove of seashore treasures on Treasure Beach outing
THE South Durban Basin (SDB) Area Based Management’s (ABM) 2013 ‘Team Speak’ winners enjoyed a fun-filled and educational day at Treasure Beach on Monday, 2 December.
As part of their prize, the teams from Isipingo Secondary, PR Pather Secondary and Mowat Park High schools took a tour of Treasure Beach with the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (Wessa). They learnt about the habitat of the rock pools and the effects of pollution on the environment.
“The pupils, all SDB residents, had never been to Treasure Beach before, so this was an exciting new experience for them. Among the rock pools, we discovered snails, zoanthids, sea anemones, sea urchins, mussels, oysters, barnacles and fan worms. They had the opportunity to hold cushion stars, slimy sea slugs and hermit crabs, which brought much delight as they crawled along their hands. They even had the honour of meeting ‘Sponge Bob’, the sea sponge,” said Wessa’s Tatum van Soelen.
The 2013 Team Speak topics related to pollution and recycling and SDB ABM manager, Eurakha Singh said she was pleased the schools are planning to implement programmes at their schools to address these issues.
“It is encouraging that projects such as this one have a high impact as it turns our young pupils into ambassadors for protecting our precious environment,” said Nazneen Allee, Isipingo Secondary School teacher.
– erinh@dbn.caxton.co.za
