The only Marine Cemetery of the world ..

Uru ..

Beypore town in Calicut is famous from time immemorial, almost 2000 years back, for the boats that were built there which sailed the seas of the world - the Uru .. An Uru is a wooden dhow, mainly made of Malabar teak, probably the biggest handicraft in the world.

To add to the glory of Beypore, the world's first and only marine cemetery has been built on Beypore beach in 2019.

What is a marine cemetery ?

The Marine Cemetery is dedicated to marine and riverine species which are endangered due to plastic waste, water pollution, climate change, and overexploitation. 

Aerial view of the cemetery

The monument has nine markers, each dedicated to an endangered marine and riverine species, built with plastic bottles encased in gravestone-shaped iron frames. 

The cemetery is jutting into the Arabian sea and is built on a rock foundation, probably to make sure these iron frames will stand for generations to come and will withstand heavy ocean waves and sea winds.

Eight of these markers are 4 feet (1.2 m) in height, and are dedicated to the 

1. seahorse

The epitaph

2. parrotfish 

3. leatherback sea turtles

4. eagle rays

5. sawfish

6. dugong

7. zebra shark and 

8. hammerhead shark

One of the markers is 6 feet (1.8 m) in height, and is dedicated to the endangered native freshwater fish species 

9. Miss Kerala

The monument is an awareness initiative.

In November 2019, a team of about 80 volunteers cleaned up Beypore beach, and collected over 800 kg (1,800 lb) of plastic waste which they handed over to Kozhikode Municipal Corporation for recycling.

2,000 plastic bottles were left behind which were later used for building the monument.

The monument was initiated by Jellyfish Watersports in collaboration with the Beypore Port administration, the authorities of Kozhikode district, and under the Clean Beach Mission of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. 

Climate change activist Aakash Ranison and his team built the structure. 

It was opened on 4 December 2019, the World Wildlife Conservation Day.  

Source : www.wikipedia.org