Thanet District Council’s Thanet Coast Project and Marine Conservation Society Volunteers would like your help to ensure that Thanet’s beaches remain clean and safe for all.
The beaches will be receiving a thorough clean on the weekend of Saturday 17 September and Sunday 18 September 2011 as part of the Beachwatch Big Weekend - the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) beach clean and litter survey which aims to highlight the issues of beach litter around the UK’s coastline.
Two specific Beachwatch events that you can help at include one on Saturday 17 September at 10:30am meeting outside the Minnis Restaurant, Minnis Bay in Birchington to record and clean beach litter along the northern sea wall at ‘Plumpudding (just west of Minnis Bay). On Sunday 18 September, the event starts at 10:30am and meets directly on the beach at Pegwell Bay below the Hugin picnic site in Cliffsend, near Ramsgate.
Both cleans will last two and a half hours and promise to be a fun and informative social occasion with gloves, bags and sticks provided. Additional beaches around Thanet’s coast will be monitored for beach litter and cleaned and you can join in at events at other bays, such as St Mildred’s Bay, Westgate on the Saturday or on Margate Main Sands on the Sunday.
MCS reports that over 170 species including seabirds, turtles and whales have mistaken marine litter for food and actually eaten it, which in many cases has resulted in starvation, poisoning and ultimately a slow, painful death. Plastic packaging and discarded fishing nets also injure, entangle and drown some of Britain’s favourite marine animals, including seals and dolphins. Beachwatch surveys have recorded a steady increase in the amount of beach litter since 1994. The four main sources of litter found on UK beaches come from the public, fishing, sanitary waste (particularly cotton bud sticks) and shipping.
Local Beachwatch organiser, Tony Child, from the Thanet Coast Project, said ‘the tide of litter washing up on our shores is not just unpleasant to look at; it can harm and even kill some of our best-loved marine wildlife. This year, the Thanet Coast Project has set a target of monitoring the beach litter from 15 of our local Thanet bays, and would like to see as many volunteers come forward to lend a hand to make this latest clean the biggest yet!’
The Beachwatch beach litter survey results are vital in turning the tide on litter. They are collated nationally and help to influence changes to laws on the disposing of waste at sea and investment in better sewage treatment at the coast. You can volunteer to help at this weekend’s event, or view further information , in the ‘What’s On’ section of www.thanetcoast.org.uk, or find out about events around the country at www.mcsuk.org
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