Blue Flag Beach

Blue Flag Beach

The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach or marina meets its stringent standards.

The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia, North America and South America.

FEE's Blue Flag criteria include standards for water quality, safety, environmental education and information, the provision of services and general environmental management criteria. The Blue Flag is sought for beaches and marinas as an indication of their high environmental and quality standards.

Certificates, which FEE refers to as awards, are issued on an annual basis to beaches and marinas of FEE member countries. The awards are announced yearly on 5 June for Europe, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries in a similar geographic location, and on 1 November for the Caribbean, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries in the southern hemisphere.

In the European Union, the water quality standards are incorporated in the EC Water Framework Directive.

Read more about Blue Flag Beach:  History

Famous quotes containing the words blue, flag and/or beach:

    It was beginning winter,
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    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)

    Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
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    Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
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    And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
    Stephen Crane (1871–1900)

    They will tell you tough stories of sharks all over the Cape, which I do not presume to doubt utterly,—how they will sometimes upset a boat, or tear it in pieces, to get at the man in it. I can easily believe in the undertow, but I have no doubt that one shark in a dozen years is enough to keep up the reputation of a beach a hundred miles long.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)