IN the Oct. 27 edition of Shenzhen Daily, I read about those wonderful volunteers cleaning up 280 kg of garbage in Dapeng New Area.

This reminded me of a boat trip we made during a staff outing where there was some fishing done with nets (the boat staff were in charge of that). The catch for us was to be put on a BBQ later that day. Besides fish we also caught a lot of garbage, mainly plastics. The fishermen removed that from the net and much to my surprise threw it straight back into the sea. The sea provides them with an income and by throwing it into the sea they are destroying their livelihood bit by bit. Maybe these people should be educated that any garbage caught should be kept aside and disposed of properly after the boat returns to shore. Maybe the government even can pay them a kilo price as a cleaning service. Most important, however, is that people, especially fishermen, should realize that the seas are a tremendous but vulnerable food source.

Jeffry Kuperus via email