Clean Nova Scotia Program Wins Award

Clean Nova Scotia's Beachsweep program, which results in dozens of maritime beaches being cleaned every year, will be awarded a Gulf of Maine Visionary Award this evening, Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.

The program was selected for its commitment to advancing the understanding of the Gulf of Maine and its marine environment.

CBC Information Morning reporter Pam Berman will also be presented with an award, during the ceremony at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, for her series on lobster conservation in the Gulf of Maine.

"The volunteers who do Beachsweep certainly deserve all our thanks," said Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell. "Not only are our beaches cleaned but they educate so many people about why the beaches are dirty in the first place."

Irene d'Entremont of MIT Electronics in Yarmouth, as the Nova Scotia board member for the Gulf of Maine Council, will present Berman with her Environmental Awareness honour. "Ms. Berman's hard work in tracking down and explaining a complicated issue benefits us all," d'Entremont said.

Other award winners at the semi-annual council meeting include Dave Harris, a Yarmouth businessman and environmentalist and Arthur Longard, a founder of the council who passed away in December 1997.

Harris, an excavator turned environmentalist, is honoured for his exemplary work in recycling and conservation which employs dozens of people in Yarmouth and area.

The four-year-old addition to his group of companies, H & H Recovery Ltd. is an aggressive recycler finding markets for products like plastics and oil containers.

The Visionary Awards are presented on behalf of the council, established in 1989 by the premiers and governors of the member provinces and states -- Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. The mandate of the council is to provide a forum for issues of common concern in the Gulf of Maine section of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Clean Nova Scotia's Beachsweep program has captured

a Gulf of Maine Visionary Award.

The program was selected for its commitment to advancing

the understanding of the Gulf of Maine and its marine

environment.

CBC Information Morning reporter Pam Berman has also

won an award for her work on a series of stories on lobster

conservation in the Gulf of Maine.

Other award winners include Dave Harris, a Yarmouth

environmentalist and Arthur Longard, a founder of the Gulf

of Maine Council who passed away in December 1997.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony held

Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Maritime Museum of the

Atlantic in Halifax.

NOTE: The ceremony will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. A previous media advisory noted a 7:00 p.m. start time.