Five giant beach clean sculptures shaped like fish are being placed around the coast of the island as part of a new initiative.

The ‘Fill a Fish’ sculptures have been built to encourage the proper disposal of plastic waste, which will be collected within the sculptures, and will be installed in close proximity to beaches in Douglas, Castletown, Peel, Port Erin and Ramsey.

The sculptures have all been designed by children from primary schools in a competition held in 2021, with five different sea creatures being chosen from over 600 entries.

The winning designs, by Alexandra Lledo-Mulvey from Peel Clothworkers School, Caleb Crellin from Anagh Coar Primary School, Finlo Stanford from Scoill Phurt Le Moirrey, Imogen Crennell from Bunscoill Rhumsaa, and Nicole Astell-Burt from The Buchan School, have since been brought to life by Darren Jackson and Stephanie Quayle from Farmyard Studio.

This is the first time Suntera Global has done this initiative, which will now be rolled out in its offices in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta and the United States.

Local charities Beach Buddies, which tackles the rubbish left and washed up on local beaches, and Isle Listen, which helps with mental health, were also involved in the initiative.

Mark Reynolds, chief operating officer at Suntera Global, said: ‘Environmental, social and governance values sit at the heart of our culture, and we are committed to caring for our staff, the environment and the community in equal measure.

‘Our collaboration with Beach Buddies and Isle Listen has helped us to make this project really special, as have the significant efforts made by our staff to support the initiative.

‘We hope that the sculptures will actively encourage community participation and as a result we will see more recycling, less plastic waste and more members of our community getting out and about and keeping physically and mentally well.’