Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) and all its Regional Fish Ports (RFP) nationwide participated in the 2023 International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) with the theme “Clean Seas for Healthy Fisheries,” held simultaneously across all PFDA ports on September 16, 2023. 

Hundreds of volunteers, including employees of the PFDA, several community organizations, clients, stakeholders, and industry partners, worked together in a collaborative effort to remove trash and other debris from the shorelines and waterways in their respective areas. 

This year, the ICC 2023 bears the hashtag #SeaTheChange, which aims to unite the nations of the world toward the conservation and protection of shorelines and waterways from pollution and the preservation of our ecosystem for current and future generations. 

In the Philippines, Proclamation No. 470, or the International Coastal Clean-up Day, was signed in September 2003. The proclamation declares every third Saturday of September of each year as the International Coastal Clean-up Day, consistent with Presidential Proclamation No. 244 declaring September as National Clean-up Month. 

The first official recorded participation of the Philippines in the coastal cleanup in 1994 was held in only 6 provinces: Puerto Princesa City, El Nido and Coron in Palawan, Tacloban City in Leyte, Bacolod City in Negros Oriental, and Anilao Bay in Mabini, Batangas

(Mark Angelo N. Perez – Public Information Division with reports and photos from PFDA-RFPs)