4 April 2008

Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the WI and Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit’s combined Beach Clean comes just before publication of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) National Beach Watch Report 2007. The Trust will also be erecting fencing around a little tern nesting site which will protect the nests from dogs, foxes and walkers.

Plastic is a perennial problem and can be fatal to both little tern and other marine wildlife. Autopsies carried out by the MCS on fulmars in the North Sea found an average of 40-50 pieces of plastic inside their stomachs. Worldwide there is an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic litter per square mile of ocean and globally over 1 million birds and 100,000 marine mammals die each year because of plastic litter alone.

“If other years are anything to go by it’s likely that plastic will be one of the main items of litter collected on Dunwich beach – this reflects the national trend,” says Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit’s countryside manager Lynn Allen.
Swallowing marine litter occurs because items can be mistaken for food. 177 marine animals are known to ingest marine litter which can damage the digestive tract and block the passage of food leading to starvation and death. The ingestion of marine litter can also result in the absorption of any toxic pollutants present on the debris. Whole plastic bags, gallon drums and balloons have been mistakenly identified as food and eaten by some mammal, turtle and shark species.
According to the MCS the average density of litter recorded on UK beaches increased from 1,989 items/km in 2006 to 2,054 items/km in 2007 and since Beachwatch 1994, the density of litter found has risen by over 96.5% and the density of plastic has increased by 126%.
Suffolk Coast and Heaths is supplying Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the Women’s Institute with Suffolk Coastal District Council’s beach clean equipment. This includes bags, gloves, sharps boxes, litter sticks and bag hoops.
For more information and results of previous beach litter surveys in Suffolk please contact Lynn Allen at Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit on 01394 384948.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• Adopt-a-Beach and Beachwatch are national schemes organised by the Marine Conservation Society. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit promote and co-ordinate the schemes in the county.
• Data gathered at these events is submitted to the Marine Conservation Society and used to lobby government to change legislation and raise awareness of the problem.
• Beach Watch takes place on the 3rd weekend of September every year, (this year 20th-21st September). The Final Report summarising the results is published the following spring.
• Beachwatch 2007 Final Report is due to be released on-line 10th April 2008. The Summary Report is available now from MCS or Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit.
• Owing to the success of both schemes in the county, Suffolk Coast and Heaths have been producing a Suffolk Summary Newsletter since 2005.
  

In February 2004, a rare Cuvier’s beaked whale was washed up on the Isle of Mull. The entrance to the whale’s stomach was completely blocked with a cylinder of tightly packed shredded black plastic bin liner bags and fishing twine.
A post mortem of an adult grey seal revealed the seal had swallowed a plastic sea angling line splitter, which had lacerated its stomach. Certain types of plastic are known to absorb chemicals, resulting in concentrations much higher than their surroundings. Plastic surfaces can accumulate pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals at concentrations up to 1 million times higher than in ocean water (Moore et al, 2001). Research has found that the ingestion of toxics correlates to impairment of animal immune systems - and hence an increase in death from infections etc.
The suspension of tiny plastic fibres in the water column could also potentially clog the feeding apparatus of small invertebrates. Laboratory studies have shown that amphipods, lugworms, and barnacles kept in aquaria with microscopic plastic present will ingest plastics readily (R. Thompson et al, 2004). Toxins in filter feeders may be passed up the food chain to fish that we consume.