The Marine National Park Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as MNPH), in collaboration with the Dongsha Command of the Southern Coastal Patrol Office under the Coast Guard Administration and other stationed units, held the “Blue Homeland · Clean Dongsha Beach” – 2014 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) event on September 22, 2014, at Dongsha Atoll National Park, a national park established to protect marine ecological environments. The event echoed the global ICC campaign participated in by more than 160 countries worldwide.
　　The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) was initiated in 1986 by the U.S.-based Ocean Conservancy (OC). Its purpose is to encourage the public to remove debris accumulated on beaches and waterways around the world, and by identifying the sources of such waste, raise awareness about maintaining clean coastlines and changing behaviors that contribute to marine pollution.
　　This cleanup event mobilized nearly 130 participants from MNPH, the Dongsha Command, the Dongsha Detachment of the Fifth Coastal Patrol Corps, the Air Force, the Navy, Dongguang Hospital, and National Sun Yat-sen University, among other stationed units. To ensure participants fully understood the ICC initiative, MNPH arranged for Mr. Chen Kuo-yung, Director of the Dongsha Management Station, to deliver a marine conservation lecture on September 19 at Dongsha, introducing the objectives of ICC, operational procedures, waste classification, and statistical reporting methods. The cleanup originally scheduled for September 20 was postponed to September 22 due to the approach of Typhoon Fung-wong.
　　Early in the morning of September 22, participants gathered in front of the national monument and were divided into groups to begin the cleanup. After more than two hours of intensive work, approximately 1,300 meters of coastline were cleaned, and a total of 966 kilograms of various types of debris were removed. The survey data will be submitted to Ocean Conservancy for compilation, providing experts worldwide with information to analyze sources of marine debris and develop further prevention strategies. In addition, Commander Sung Tzu-yang of the Dongsha Command encouraged stationed personnel to not only safeguard national territory and conduct patrol duties, but also to actively protect the natural ecology of this “blue homeland.”
　　According to the results of this cleanup and long-term beach debris surveys conducted by the Dongsha Management Station, most of the marine debris found on Dongsha’s beaches originates from mainland China and Southeast Asian countries, accounting for more than 60% of the total waste. The majority consists of petrochemical plastic products such as PET bottles, foam, and Styrofoam. These non-biodegradable materials have been scientifically proven to break down into microplastics that enter organisms through the food chain, causing severe adverse impacts. MNPH hopes that more members of the public will join in caring for our marine ecology and actively participate in future coastal cleanup activities.

Figure 1. Marine conservation lecture.	Figure 2. Participants working hard during the cleanup.
Figure 3. Survey and statistics of removed beach debris.	Figure 4. Group photo showing fruitful results of the cleanup.