Residents who came with private vehicles to collect the loot were fined approximately 1,000 NIS
Many citizens who came last week with private vehicles to collect the contents of the container that washed ashore in Ashkelon were fined NIS 1000.
According to the publication in ‘Mako’, dozens of vehicles were photographed by the Authority’s inspectors who were stationed at a distance from the beach and equipped with advanced cameras, and according to officials at the Nature and Parks Authority, the inspectors knew in advance, through social networks, about the arrival of the vehicles and planned a planned ambush and photographed the robbers and their vehicles.
In fact, the fine was imposed on the drivers due to the fact that it is a beach that is actually a nature reserve belonging to the Nature and Parks Authority.
“People came in with their vehicles, went up on the beach and ran over sea turtles for the sleeve of disposable cups,” an official at the Nature and Parks Authority told ‘mako’.
An eyewitness who was present at the scene said that “the inspectors stood at a great distance from the vehicles and photographed hundreds of vehicles, jeeps, Razors, wagons and trailers”.
An inspector from the Nature and Parks Authority said that “it should be understood that the Nature and Parks Authority had to hire nearly 40 cleaning companies for a total of NIS 100,000 per day, for 8 hours every day, for the entire coming week, in order to clean up all the dirt that the public left at Nitsanim Beach. Everyone who came there opened a package and threw it on the floor, there is a lot of dirt on the beach at these moments.”
In a conversation with a senior official at the Nature and Parks Authority, it becomes clear that the shipping company from which the containers fell is also currently in the sights of the Authority. “The cleanup operation will cost us about one million shekels, and I will add that we are in the Nature and Parks Authority and we will take into account the shipping company. After the containers are removed from the sea, the authority’s divers will also have to clean the seabed in the entire area.”
The Nature and Parks Authority stated in response to the publication in Mako’: “This is the Nitzanim Sands Nature Reserve, which is a closed reserve. According to state laws, it is forbidden to travel on the beaches for nature conservation and safety reasons. The Nature and Parks Authority inspectors jumped to the scene to deal with the containers that were thrown into the sea and caused a serious marine pollution incident in a nature reserve which endangers the animals that live in the reserve.
The inspectors explained to the citizens that it was a nature reserve and that it was forbidden to drive on the beach. People who broke the law were treated with enforcement.”
As I remember last week, a ship tried to enter the port of Ashdod while there was a storm that led to high waves. To keep the crew safe, she went out to the open sea, and while leaving the port, the three containers fell off her and some of them ended up on the shore in Ashkelon. Citizens who arrived at the scene began looting the equipment before the police arrived.