Guernsey Press

Beach clean shows children at first hand effect of pollution

PLASTICS and other marine pollutants were cleared from two west coast beaches as part of a nationwide initiative.

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Charles Hurford was teaching his daughters Apolline 3, and Hebe, 7, that plastic is causing a huge amount of damage to the ocean (Picture by Steve Sarre, 22541868)

La Societe Guernesiaise’s marine biology section organised the events at Grandes Rocques and L’Eree as part of the Great British Beach Clean, which took place this weekend.

Section secretary Laura Bampton said data recorded from the organised cleans allowed them to identify the main causes of marine pollution.

‘If you know that, you can design solutions to stop it getting there in the first place,’ she said at Grandes Rocques on Saturday.

‘The year after they introduced the plastic bag charge in the UK, the number of plastics bags [found during the Great British Beach Clean] declined by 80 to 90%. something crazy like that.’

Last year, 96% of the items picked up in the marine biology section’s organised cleans were plastics.

Charles Hurford, who went to Grandes Rocques with his daughters Hebe, 7, and Apolline, 3, said it was important that youngsters learn how their actions affect the environment.

‘I want to teach my children that plastic is doing a huge amount of damage to our oceans,’ he said.

‘I want them to start off by learning that plastic pollution is bad and also its impact on marine life.

‘Dolphins will eat plastic bags because they look like jellyfish, but they can’t digest them.’

Hebe and her younger sister found and picked up fishing gear, bits of rope and a fishing hook all within the first few minutes.

‘I am here to save the animals in the sea,’ said Hebe.

Miss Bampton said the kind of litter found on beaches falls into two main categories.

‘It can be broadly split into plastics from the beach and inland, and then the litter that washes in from the sea,’ she said.

‘It can be anything from pieces of fishing gear, to the usual suspects like crisp packets and things like that.’