Marine litter is a blight on our coastlines. What we find on our beaches is not the full extent of the marine litter though. It is estimated that 70% of marine litter is on the seabed, 15% is floating in the water column and 15% is what we find on our shores.
While this is a very depressing statistic, there are some positives regarding the opportunities for people to act in the fight against marine litter.
Clean coasts, local councils, aquariums, and marine champions like Sandlarks, Flossie and the Beach Cleaners all work together to take on the challenges of collecting and recording marine litter.
Over the last few days, the BIG WEIGH IN developed by Flossie involved 400 participants and volunteers across Ireland who collected more than 3.5 tonnes of waste from beaches, lakes, rivers, and canals!
The recent BIG WEIGH IN event in Furbo was organised by a fantastic environmental group called Sandlarks, they are a volunteer group that creates a social story behind the litter they find on the shore.
Ultan McManus of Sandlarks, said resembling Tom Crean on his ship The Endurance, seven brave souls put their beach cleaning skills to test against the harshest of weather conditions known on Galway’s rugged western coastline. Lashing rain and winds could not deter the crew from getting the job done.
The mission was to rid Park East Beach Furbo of copious amounts of rubbish as part of Flossie and The Beach Cleaners BIG WEIGH IN 2023.
After a two-hour battle against the elements, the weight of their collective efforts — approximately 20 bags of marine waste, fishing nets, plastic bottles, vapes, aluminum cans, old toothbrushes, a plastic toy soldier, a “NIKF” trainer (counterfeit NIKE ) and 156 bullet cartridges — came in at 169kg. While Europe boils, the only SPF we encountered was Sodden Pants and Feet.
Organisers issued a special word of thanks to the Galway Atlantaquaria for continuous assistance and support, to volunteers Garry, Neasa, Macdara, Áine, Esmé, Amelia, and Ultan, and to Galway CoCo for agreeing to collect the rubbish.”
Galway Atlantaquaria was delighted to be invited to join in the BIG WEIGH IN beach clean, as Garry Kendellen, of Galway Atlantaquaria, said beach cleaning is not an easy role to take on. “It takes lots of time and can be very challenging with lots of logistical challenges. “
“We are really inspired by local volunteers like Sandlarks who organise these beach clean-ups. It takes heart to become a beach cleaner and we have really connected with Sandlarks. Galway Atlantaquaria would also like to thank Clean Coasts and Galway City & County who help remove the litter we collect. Beach Cleaning needs support, and we are really proud of our council,” he said.
This year the BIG WEIGH IN removed over 2053.45 kgs of litter from our coastline and rivers. This is an amazing achievement, and we should all be proud of the efforts of volunteers from all walks of life who participated in this year’s campaign.
There are many more Beach Cleans being organised on a monthly basis, if you would like to get involved in more events and activities by the shore, see the Aquariums events page. https://nationalaquarium.ie/
