- MOF, hosts a joint adoption ceremony at the Incheon Masian beach and hands over certificate -

 The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (Minister CHO, Seung-Hwan)

announced the joint hosting of the banryeo beach adoption ceremony with the US Embassy in Korea and plans to carry out joint cleanup activities with about 70 members from partner institutions, including Incheon Metropolitan City, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation, and CJ CheilJedang on September 1st (Thursday) at the Masian beach at Yeongjongdo, Incheon.

 The Banryeo Beach program is a voluntary beach adoption program where anyone, including organizations, companies, or schools, can become the guardian of a designated beach in order to take care of the beach, in a manner similar to taking care of a pet. To overcome the limits of the government-led marine waste collection policy and to push for the management of marine waste by the public sector, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries started a pilot program at three beaches of Jeju in September 2020. Since then, the program has expanded to 8 metropolitan governments within just 2 years, where 63 organizations have been assigned to 53 beaches nationwide for beach management.

 The Masian beach of Incheon is the “first banryeo beach of Incheon” and was adopted by CJ CheilJedang in August 2021, with the US Embassy in Korea now becoming the second participant to adopt the Masian beach. The upcoming cleanup activity marks the first post-adoption official activity of the US Embassy, where MOF Deputy Minister Song Myeong-dal, the Head of the Marine Policy Office, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew R. Herrup of the US Embassy, Vice President Chung Gil-geun, the Head of the Corporate Communication Office of CJ CheilJedang, and his employees will take part in the cleanup to shine the spotlight on the significance of the adoption of the banryeo beach. The adoption ceremony will also include ceremonies to put up a banryeo beach signboard and to hand over the adoption certificate.

 To ensure the seamless operation of the Banryeo Beach program, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has selected seven private institutions to function as regional coordinators to support the activities carried out by the adopting institutions. Moreover, to encourage businesses and organizations to take part in the adoption program, the Ministry supports the installation of the banryeo beach signboards and plans to hold the ‘National Banryeo Beach Competition’ on September 22nd to hand out awards to the best performing organizations. The benefits will continue to expand to encourage more adoptions of banryeo beaches. Any groups or institutions interested in adopting a banryeo beach can easily apply online at the ‘Care for our Sea platform (www.caresea.or.kr).’

 Deputy Minister Song Myeong-dal, the Head of the Marine Policy Office at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries explained that it is “more meaningful for the US Embassy in Korea to adopt the Masian beach since the roots of the banryeo beach program actually spring from the Adopt-A-Beach program of the state of Texas in the US.” He also stated that the Ministry will “continue to actively expand and support the banryeo beach program to allow more people to easily take part in marine environment conservation activities.”