WASTE NOT: Hermanus hero in action
It’s a glacial day in Hermanus and the beach is all but abandoned, except for one man in a blue windbreaker. Long time Hermanus resident Victor Loraine Hamilton Attwell (“Call me Vic. “he says) has been picking up litter on our town’s shores for years. Come rain or shine.
I joined him, thinking, how hard can it be? After 20 minutes I am freezing my caboose off but Vic says we’ve only just started. There’s so much litter that it generally takes him about three hours to clear a mere 500-metre area. I am shocked.
Vic has picked up everything from condoms (apparently, poachers use them to cover their cell phones when in the water), to diapers and false teeth. Nice!
I pictured walking on an idyllic stretch of beach, but in reality, I ended up slipping and sliding in the mud and over mounds of kelp. Litter washes up everywhere. Vic has bloodied his knees after falling on rocks. I can tell you that after this experience. I will never buy another plastic bottle of water again!
Vic has a doctorate in zoology and moved to Vermont in 2000 after a prolific career. But instead of resting on the beach as he well deserved, he set about cleaning it.
“I started with the idea of just collecting some data; he says. Four years later, after picking up litter every week at Brekfis Bay after high tide, he collected a whopping 600 kg of plastic.
Since 2011. Vic has participated in the International Coastal Cleanup, an annual initiative where volunteers around the world pick up litter on one day. “We cover over two and a half pieces of waste.”
Vic meticulously logs all the waste per type and sends this data to a research centre in the US. “Every bit of statistics counts.”
Vic is modest about his significant contribution to Hermanus. which goes far beyond litter picking – to outreach. “My aim is to educate people about pollution,” he says, his blue eyes lively behind his glasses. “Only about five percent of ocean waste comes from trawlers and ships. The majority comes from people on land. We don’t manage our waste.”
Also a motivational speaker for CANSA. Vic has taught a waste management course to Grade 10 and 11 learners at Hermanus High School for the last 10 years. The course forms part of the Life Sciences syllabus.
“When I talk to the kids I say: The plastic bottle that you walked past this morning? It’s going to end up in the ocean and you’re going to eat it.’ Then I show them how plastic breaks down and the (marine life] eats it. Currently, there is six times more plastic in the ocean than food for fish.”
He developed an ongoing project where learners collect data about their household waste. The mothers hate me.” he chuckles, “but afterwards some say it’s fantastic because they now know what waste they generate and how they can change their habits.”
Vic says much more can be done, however. He is an ardent proponent of recycling. The Municipality goes out of its way to give people a free plastic bag and they don’t use it.
Currently there is six times more plastic in the ocean than food for fish
“Being a former Vaalie. I can tell you that we don’t get a free recycling bag in Jo’burg!
Vic has packed so much into his 76 years that you start to question whether you’re doing enough with your life. I ask him when he’s going to retire and he laughs. *l still have a long way to go*
Growing up dirt poor on a farm in the deep western Transvaal Vic then quickly vaulted the career ladder.
becoming a junior lecturer in his third year at university. “I wanted to become a mechanic and my Biology teacher said to my mother, ‘No ways/and he arranged a university loan for me”.
Specialising in the epidemiology of bilharzia, Vic’s achievements include developing an artificial reed bed to dean up sewage before it enters natural streams. He also assisted an explosives factory to become compliant with global environmental management standards.
Maybe it was providence that drew Vic to Hermanus, the perfect place to apply his rich knowledge of microbiology and the natural world. “Waste is the main issue in Hermanus, “he says.”The other issue is the rivers”.
The main issue in Hermanus. The other issue is the rivers.
In 2006 Overstrand Municipality approached Vic to study faecal pollution in the Klein River from Stanford to the mouth of the Klein River Estuary, adding Onrus River and Estuary to the survey two years later. The data showed that old or badly managed conservancy tanks are the main cause of this pollution. “Vik says. “As a result, a large number were replaced”
Vic’s shtick, if you can put it that way, is data collection, which is crucial for monitoring the state of the environment. When the green belts in Vermont received Nature Reserve status in 2016. I was contacted to… develop a checklist of creatures in the green belts. “he says. He treks outdoors in summer and winter, laying out lights at night to attract all the goggatjies.
The smaller, the better. It was through Fernkloof Nature Reserve that Vic’s love for the “microworld” of plants and animals found a home. His involvement extends beyond the interesting talks he gives in comfortable lecture halls to the trails themselves.
A Fernkloof field guide. Vic interacts with all types of people from around the world, from students to horticulturists responsible for grand palace gardens. He says playing tennis regularly keeps him trail fit.
Dr Dianne Marais, Hermanus creatures to the geology So much so that Vic co authored a book about the area. Femkloof Nature Reserve. Published by HBS in honour of the reserve’s 60th anniversary, the book will be released during the Hermanus Flower Festival at Femkloof in September.
“Nowadays my passion is spiders, “Vic says”, his eyes lighting up again. “We have spiders in Fernkloof that you find nowhere else, possibly due to the age of the fynbos, which is one of the oldest plant species on the planet” Even older than him, he would joke.
“The thinking is that spiders in Hermanus will be special in the same way as the plants are. such as the Protea and Erica. We have some plants in the Reserve that you don’t find anywhere else in the world”.
Having made startling discoveries while collecting spiders for The South African National Survey of Arachnida. Vic now plans and even the more intensive study of these critters in Hermanus, particularly in Fernkloof.
“That’s after the flower show, “says Vic, who is responsible for picking flowers along the coast for the HBS Flower Festival in September and for manning the flower display. I’m involved in lots of things,* he grins. Jy kan dit weer se.
Vic made the discovery that there are in fact three different rain spider species in Fernkloof. He’s collected all three. What does he use to catch spiders? He laughs. “My hand of course!”
Don’t be a litter bug (or a couch potato). Help Vic on 16 September at the 2017 International Coastal Cleanup in Hermanus. Email vicattwell@telkomsa.net or phone Vic on 082 785 5145.