Marine Life & Conservation
Shotgun cartridges, false toenails and a bus chair all found on UK beaches this year
Shotgun cartridges, a bus chair, false toenails and a CCTV camera are among some of the oddest items found by volunteers cleaning up the UK’s beaches in 2021.
The Marine Conservation Society’s dedicated community of volunteers head to the coast come rain or shine to keep the UK’s beaches beautiful.
The charity’s volunteers not only clear litter, but record what they find. While some is, unfortunately, to be expected, other beach litter can come as a bit of a surprise!
Results from this year’s Great British Beach Clean, a week of beach cleaning events across the UK and funded thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, found litter levels to be dropping. The year-on-year drop suggests policies like plastic bag charges and single-use plastic bans are working. However, 75% of all beach litter collected was made of plastic or polystyrene.
Image: Aled Llywelyn
Lizzie Prior, Beachwatch Manager at the Marine Conservation Society said: “It’s great to see litter levels continuing to drop on our beaches, but the massive amount of plastic we’re still finding is certainly cause for concern.
“Our dedicated volunteers head to the beach year-round to collect litter and data which is vital to our work. Sometimes, what they find is a little more unusual, and doesn’t quite fit into our survey form’s categories! We’re sharing some of the items that our volunteers came across this year.”
Some of the items found this year by Marine Conservation Society volunteers:
- CCTV camera
- Hearing aid
- 4 cabbages and 30 orange peels
- Shotgun cartridges
- Sofa
- Bus chair
- Tool box
- False toenails
- Carpet
Many of the unusual items collected by volunteers contain, in some way, plastic. Plastic pieces remain the most prevalent form of litter on UK beaches, with an average of 112 pieces found for every 100 metres of UK beach surveyed.
People’s Postcode Lottery players have raised £3.7 million for Marine Conservation Society and have been supporting both the Great British Beach Clean and the Marine Conservation Society’s beach cleaning programme since 2015.
Image: Aled Llywelyn
Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “While it’s heartening that overall the level of litter on beaches has dropped this year, I was shocked to learn about the huge array of items that have been discarded as waste and have then gone on to be washed up on our beaches.
“It’s a stark reminder that there’s more to be done so I’m delighted that funding raised by our players is supporting Marine Conservation Society – and their wonderful volunteers – to continue this valuable work.”
To learn more about the Marine Conservation Society’s beach clean results, and join as a volunteer, visit the charity’s website: www.mcsuk.org
Marine Life & Conservation
Reef-World launch new toolkit in response to the current global coral bleaching event
The Reef-World Foundation – international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative – has launched a new coral bleaching toolkit in response to the 4th global coral bleaching event confirmed by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) in April 2024.
The Green Fins Global Coral Bleaching Response Toolkit provides guidance to the marine tourism industry on how they can help manage and monitor the impacts of coral bleaching and get involved in recovery efforts. It features information about coral bleaching, including the causes, impacts and response strategies. The toolkit is compiled from a variety of readily available resources from multiple organizations and initiatives, such as ICRI, Coral Reef Alliance, Reef Check and NOAA, along with Green Fins materials, to ensure it is accessible to everyone. These resources cover methods for reducing local impacts, monitoring the reefs and engaging tourists and local communities.
The El Niño phenomenon has been present since February 2023, which has led to persistently warmer temperatures being experienced around the world and has affected the sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching has been recorded in all ocean regions ever since. While this event is widespread and serious, there is still hope as bleached corals are not dead corals. Corals can survive bleaching events and thrive if they are given the time to adapt to the changing climate.
“Coral reefs are under a huge amount of stress every day and that reduces their chance of recovery from bleaching events,” said Chloe Harvey, Executive Director at The Reef-World Foundation. “However, this time around the scientists have been watching the data closely, so we’re prepared. We understand what it means and we know what we need to do to respond to it. This global event calls for global action to protect these vital ecosystems for generations to come.”
By equipping the industry with the necessary knowledge and tools, Reef-World hopes to empower these key stakeholders to play a crucial role in preserving the health and resilience of our precious coral reef ecosystems. Reef-World believes that with the right resources, the marine tourism industry can be a driving force in the fight against coral bleaching and contribute significantly to the long-term sustainability of marine environments.
With this momentum, other key players in the industry, such as PADI AWARE Foundation and NOAA, have gotten on board the campaign for more citizen scientists to help out in monitoring coral bleaching. With the toolkit available to all, The Reef-World Foundation is looking forward to more collaborative actions in the industry.
Explore the toolkit on Green Fins’ website: greenfins.net/coral-bleaching
A real solution for an environmental catastrophe is in reach
Six years after setting sail for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), we have developed the cleanup technology to relegate the patch to the history books.
On 6 September 2024, The Ocean Cleanup will return to San Francisco, where founder and CEO Boyan Slat will provide an update in which he will announce what is needed in terms of time, money and efforts to eradicate the GPGP.
To confirm your presence, please RSVP to press@theoceancleanup.com
PROGRAM
- Press conference: CEO and founder Boyan Slat will announce the next phase of the cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Interviews: opportunities to interview Boyan Slat (CEO & founder), Joël Jansen (Director of Oceans), Arjen Tjallema (Director of Technology) and Matthias Egger (Director of Environmental and Social Affairs)
- Vessels & technology: visit our two iconic ships, take a look at extraction System 03 and see the extracted plastic up-close and personal*
*Limited availability; RSVP soon to press@theoceancleanup.com
PRACTICALITIES
Date: September 6, 2024
Press conference: 12 pm (noon) / doors open 11.30 am
Location: The Exploratorium (Google Maps)
Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street), San Francisco, CA
Parking: Visit The Exploratorium’s website for details
RSVP: press@theoceancleanup.com
Press kit: a press kit will be shared afterwards
To find out more about the Ocean Cleanup, visit www.theoceancleanup.com.
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