Plastic Fantastic
I paddle on Anglesey most weeks and love it’s beautiful coastline. However I’ve noticed that the amount of plastic rubbish floating in the sea seems to be increasing – unless I’m more observant as I get older!?
A few months ago we saw a razor bill on the sea struggling to take off and noticed it had got wrapped up in a piece of string from a balloon. Barry managed to remove the string from underneath it’s wings. There was a bit of blood but hopefully he recovered and was able to take off eventually. I’ve always removed bits and pieces of trash from the sea and beaches, but since then I’ve started to stop and remove any pieces of plastic that I see floating in the sea – usually a few pieces every time I go out. A month ago I picked up a plastic canoe barrel, completely in tact – all I need is a new lid and a canoe adventure.
Last weekend Barry and I took this a bit further and we filled our back hatch with a small number of the plastic bottles that have washed up in the back of Parliament House Cave under North Stack. I wonder how many visits it will take to bring them all back and put them in our recycling bin?
Fighting a losing battle? Perhaps, but if everyone collected a hatch full of rubbish every now and again then our oceans would be a nicer and less hazardous place for wildlife.
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It does feel a bit hopeless lifting plastic as you always see more lying about, but it has to help even just lifting a few bits.
Caught and cut free a puffin that had its beak, tongue, wings and feet tangled up in nylon fishing net in the summer, wouldn’t have lasted long. Hopefully it recovered, a lesson for the future though: free the beak last, they bite hard!
Quite a number of years ago I had a similar experience while paddling, only it did not end so well. The victim was a Cormorant and the culprit was a ball of discarded fishing line. The Cormorant unfortunately died in my arms while I was trying to remove the line from around its’ neck. It had obviously been struggling in the water for some time before we got to it, struggling to take off, struggling to swim, struggling to breathe, it was totally exhausted when we arrived, this was a terrible way to die. So ever since then every time I paddle, every time I’m near the water I pick up the litter I see.
You need to organize something like this http://www.letsdoitworld.org Estonians did it all over the country, UK is a bit bigger so maybe you should start with cleaning coastline.
I was in the cave last Thursday and saw what you describe. Having said that, anywhere on the west or north Anglesey coast is the same.
It’s time we stopped buying drinks in plastic bottles, we hear of oil shortages and yet we produce these items from that material then throw it away.
And another thing……. supermarkets over packing produce, – crazy waste of resources.
I tried to organise a day out a few years ago on the UK rivers guide to do a clearing day. The response??? NIL. I then looked at Marine Conservation, but it seems they are as interested in statistics as they are clearing, so a day with them includes recording types of rubbish as well as the collection. I guess I wanted to do something more impactive than that, so I take stuff home from the beaches and recycle it.
Shame we couldn’t carry the iron work from Parliament cave, there is a fortune there in scrap metal.
Any ideas as to what it is/ was?
Hi Justine,
It’s happening on this side of the Atlantic too! I refer you to the following effort.
http://www.rozaliaproject.org/
Best,
Galen
Every little helps although its so frustrating still loads there the other day perhaps we should have a kayak coastal clear up good pr for kayakers and of course the enviroment, well done on your bit
Dave
We do!
I for one, actually pick up every useful thing.
Floating, or wrecked on the shores I found every kind of stuff. Buoys, ropes, cans, piece of wood…
Last year I bear home twenty – eighteen feet long logs, the size of a tree I found floating on the see.
It took me two days to collect all that wood, taking it home and clean it. But eventually I am on the way to build a workbench.
The whole for free!