Calling all Canadians... Love your shorelines, love your community!

VANCOUVER, April 9 /CNW/ - Registration is now open for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup taking place September 18-26 across the country. We invite all Canadians to become conservation champions by taking an active role in cleaning up a shoreline in your community. Participation helps ensure safer environments for aquatic life and contributes to preserving natural aquatic habitats.

From Resolute to Richmond, Tofino to Truro, shorelines are found in every Canadian community. A shoreline can be a riverbank, beach, lakefront or wetland.

Canadians concerned about our environment can find more info and register at www.shorelinecleanup.ca or by calling 1-877-427-2422.

Canada has the longest shoreline of any country on Earth. Every year during the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, hundreds of thousands of litter items are found. In 2009, the three most common objects continued to be cigarette butts, food wrappers and plastic bags. Among the more unusual items found last year were a mannequin wearing a bathing suit, a hot air balloon basket and a bathroom sink.

"These unusual items, and the 161,000 kg of litter that we removed in 2009, show that our shorelines are still being used as dumping grounds," says Jill Dwyer, Manager, Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. "The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup seeks to change that behaviour by giving Canadians an opportunity to be stewards of positive change in their own communities to keep our shorelines free of litter."

Evidence shows most shoreline litter originates from land and land-based activities. Come on Canada! Help make a difference by registering today to participate in a cleanup in your community.

About the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is one of the largest cleanups in the world contributing to the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup. It is a Vancouver Aquarium direct action conservation program that aims to promote understanding of shoreline litter issues by engaging Canadians to rehabilitate shoreline areas through cleanups. The program influences Canadians to act and become stewards of change. Learn more at www.shorelinecleanup.ca

The Vancouver Aquarium has coordinated shoreline cleanups in Canada since 1994, when a small team of volunteers conducted a cleanup in Vancouver's Stanley Park. In 2002, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup became a national program, providing all Canadians the opportunity to make a difference in local communities.

About the Vancouver Aquarium

The Vancouver Aquarium is a global leader in connecting people to our natural world, and a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, conservation practices, education, research, and direct action. Learn more at www.vanaqua.org.

For further information: Media Contacts: Jean Fong, Communications & Special Events Coordinator, Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, [email protected], 1-800-375-8776; Kent Hurl, Public Relations Supervisor, Vancouver Aquarium, [email protected], [phone]