Transition Island Blog

Plastic litter on Britain’s beaches has reached record levels, endangering whales, dolphins and seabirds.

The Marine Conservation Society, which campaigns for cleaner beaches and seas, said plastic litter has increased by 126 percent since its first survey in 1994.

Scores of marine wildlife species, including seals and turtles, have died after eating plastic or drowning after getting tangled in debris or old fishing nets, it said.

“The results are truly shocking,” said Emma Snowden, the society’s litter projects coordinator. “Plastics are of particular concern as they could persist in the marine environment for centuries with fatal consequences for marine wildlife.”

In the last decade, the amount of plastic drinks bottles has risen by 67 percent, plastic bags by 54 percent and cigarette butts by 44 percent.

The UN Atlas of the Oceans says: Of the total of some 8 million tonnes of solid waste entering the sea every day, about 5 million tonnes are thrown, or lost, from ships.

Nearly 4,000 volunteers took part in the survey of 354 beaches in September last year. The full MCS Beachwatch 2007 results can be downloaded at www.adoptabeach.org.uk - interestingly enough, a useful-to-know-about organisation we identified recently.

Opinion
It’s not just the Pacific Ocean !

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from Ventnor Blog:

“The lads from Rapanui got in touch today, to let us know about a beach clean planned for the end of the month.

It’s taking place on the beach near Brighstone and is being organised in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society.

They organise beach cleans every quarter and normally work the Freshwater and Totland beaches, but this time are moving further around the coast.”

Read more…

opinion:
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Eco-News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.