A large underwater cleanup campaign in Tivat

The humanitarian organization "Caritas" of the Diocese of Kotor, in cooperation with the Municipality of Tivat and the Diving Club "Mostar" from Mostar, is today conducting a large eco-campaign to clean up the underwater environment in the territory of the Municipality of Tivat, from the Church of St. Roch in Donja Lastva to Ponta Seljanovo.

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Divers also found an unexploded ordnance - a hand grenade - in the waters near Ponte Seljanova.

One of the divers from Mostar, who is a trained member of the local Civil Protection to clean up unexploded ordnance, retrieved the bomb from the seabed and handed it over to the police, who had previously been notified of the discovery of this dangerous device and who took it over on the spot.

"Our goal is to, in addition to contributing to the local community, preserving the seabed and seawater, raise awareness about ecology, environmental preservation and human impact on it. We would like to thank the Secretariat for Spatial Planning of the Municipality of Tivat, as well as the Tivat Municipal Company, for providing space and capacity for disposing of marine waste. We would also like to specially thank the 'Mostar' Diving Club for their willingness and desire to participate in this action," said the director of Caritas of the Kotor Diocese, priest Don Željko Pasković, who is himself a passionate diver and sea lover, as well as a volunteer firefighter.

Pasković believes that environmental awareness among citizens is, unfortunately, still low, and that this action therefore aims not only to clean up the coast and the seabed, but also to awaken responsibility towards nature, with the support and engagement of society.

""Unfortunately, awareness of marine conservation is still low, both among tourists and the local population. Every time we dive, we find huge amounts of waste. That's why we have already agreed to make this action a tradition, because there is a need for cleaning, but there is also a will," said Pasković, with whom today the MP from the Europe Now Movement (PES), Tonći Janović from Tiv, dived together and collected waste from the seabed.

That adequate public reactions have already been provoked was demonstrated this morning at the popular Tivat beach Ponta Seljanova, from where the divers launched their action. Seeing the unusual event and the large number of volunteers gathered, several citizens and foreign tourists who happened to be at Ponta Seljanova showed interest in the action, and they also gladly accepted gloves, bags and other equipment and helped carry the waste removed from the sea into a large bucket that was brought in for this occasion by the Tivat Municipal Enterprise.

In addition to about twenty divers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, activists from numerous partner organizations also took part in the action: NGO Our Action, Youth Team Tivat, Volunteer Fire Department Tivat, Dolphin Researchers of Montenegro, and it was supported as sponsors by Ribarnica Deković, Montenegro Fishing doo, Red Cross Tivat and the UNA company, as well as several private boat owners who made their vessels available.

Don Željko Pasković explained that the initiative for this action arose spontaneously, after a meeting between activists from Caritas and the Tivat Volunteer Fire Department with members of the Mostar Diving Club.

"The idea came about spontaneously when the three of us, who were leading a convoy of aid to those affected by the major floods in Jablanica a few months ago, were in Mostar. There we happened to meet divers from the Mostar Diving Club, and a beautiful friendship developed from that meeting. We invited them to Boka, and they suggested that their visit not be just an excursion, but an ecological action," said Pasković, adding that this will become a tradition and that at least fifty divers from Mostar are expected to come to this ecological gathering in Boka next year.