The Results are in...
Seeing as I had to compile the Beachwatch survey data for the MCS, it wasn't much extra effort to summarize it here. The two charts you see here can be viewed as larger images if you click on them. The first "% Material Type" gives a breakdown of general category of material as a percentage of the total number of items found. Plastics clearly dominate and were made up mainly of short pieces of fishing line, small fragments of plastic, pieces of fishing net and nylon rope.
"% Estimated Source" is a measure of the percentage of the total number of items categorized by likely source based on item type. There is some overlap between 'beach visitors' and 'fishing items' where angling line may have come from beach fishing - but the convention the MCS adopts is to group all fishing items together.
Out of a total number of 1269 items found, the highest numbers in descending order were 407 pieces of fishing line; 259 plastic pieces 1-50cm across; 112 plastic pieces less than 1cm across; 78 pieces of fishing net less than 50cm across; 73 pieces of nylon rope; 47 plastic caps and lids; 34 pieces of cloth/string; 27 wood pieces; 25 pieces of foam/sponge; 24 plastic wrappers; 22 pieces of paper; 19 pieces of plastic cutlery/straws/trays; 17 plastic bottles; 16 plastic bags; 16 polystyrene pieces less than 50cm across; 14 drink cans; 11 cigarette stubs....
Why post all this information here? You may have taken part in a Beachwatch yourself this year and want to compare results. We sampled 400m of beach 40m wide, 5m from the surf to the high water mark (strand line). We began the survey 2 hours before high tide and continued as the tide came in although the MCS recommends that litter surveys are recorded around 1-2 hours after high tide to get a better measure of what has washed up on the previous tide. You may survey your local beach regularly or you may have studied coastal pollution and have a method for doing this. I'd be interested to find out.
Has the MCS been active in your area? Has environmental lobbying caused a change in industrial practice or beach use near you e.g. dumping at sea; litter signs; provision of bins. I'd be interetsed to know whether beach surveys are making a difference. What is the scourge of your beach? Maybe its sewage outfall or disposable barbeques and fires. Ours is clearly fishing waste and plastics.
"% Estimated Source" is a measure of the percentage of the total number of items categorized by likely source based on item type. There is some overlap between 'beach visitors' and 'fishing items' where angling line may have come from beach fishing - but the convention the MCS adopts is to group all fishing items together.
Out of a total number of 1269 items found, the highest numbers in descending order were 407 pieces of fishing line; 259 plastic pieces 1-50cm across; 112 plastic pieces less than 1cm across; 78 pieces of fishing net less than 50cm across; 73 pieces of nylon rope; 47 plastic caps and lids; 34 pieces of cloth/string; 27 wood pieces; 25 pieces of foam/sponge; 24 plastic wrappers; 22 pieces of paper; 19 pieces of plastic cutlery/straws/trays; 17 plastic bottles; 16 plastic bags; 16 polystyrene pieces less than 50cm across; 14 drink cans; 11 cigarette stubs....
Why post all this information here? You may have taken part in a Beachwatch yourself this year and want to compare results. We sampled 400m of beach 40m wide, 5m from the surf to the high water mark (strand line). We began the survey 2 hours before high tide and continued as the tide came in although the MCS recommends that litter surveys are recorded around 1-2 hours after high tide to get a better measure of what has washed up on the previous tide. You may survey your local beach regularly or you may have studied coastal pollution and have a method for doing this. I'd be interested to find out.
Has the MCS been active in your area? Has environmental lobbying caused a change in industrial practice or beach use near you e.g. dumping at sea; litter signs; provision of bins. I'd be interetsed to know whether beach surveys are making a difference. What is the scourge of your beach? Maybe its sewage outfall or disposable barbeques and fires. Ours is clearly fishing waste and plastics.
posted by Mark Schofield at 1:02 PM
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