Guernsey beach cleans and marine litter

Marine debris and particularly floating plastic is a major hazard for wildlife. Seabirds, turtles and marine mammals may ingest plastic, which may cause their death. Discarded plastic erodes to microscopic particles, which can enter the human food chain. Some plastic softeners may mimic endocrine hormones which impact reproduction.

Marine debris washes up on the Guernsey shore regularly. Much of it is from ships including fishing boats. Storms bring up broken crab and lobster pots. Beach cleaners often find an odd shoe, cigarette lighters, plastic polymer fishing rope, twine, and line, pieces of polystyrene and insulation foam, plastic bags and plastic bottles, and thousands of pieces of hard plastic including disposable plastic cutlery, plastic bottle tops and plastic toys.

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Litter collected from the sea shore at La Valette on Guernsey's east coast on 21st June 2009

The litter items in this image were collected from the small pebble beach by La Valette bathing pools on the morning of Sunday 21 June 2009 before people arrived on the beach.

Some of the broken cans had clearly been on the shore or in the sea for sometime.

Someone had thrown glass bottles onto the beach where they smashed.

This amount of litter represents a significant reduction in litter compared to the collection on 1 June.

This reduction may be the result of the BBC's Beach Watch campaign at the beginning of the month.

File No. 210609 5717
©RLLord
sealordphoto@gmail.com

La Valette La Vallette Guernsey Channel Islands beach litter sea shore litter bathing pools beach clean 21 June 2009 plastic litter plastic wrappers cigarette broken glass aluminium can cans Styrofoam container styrofoam takeout food container take out food container plastic cutlery residential litter Guernsey beach litter

Sealord photography's biodiversity images began with a focus on international commercial seafood species and the marine life of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Great Britain.

Sealord photography has a growing collection of digital images covering climate change, the environment and sustainability issues.

Sealord photography also covers the Guernsey community and particularly the fund raising activities of Guernsey charities as part of the island's social sustainability.

The fish, shellfish and marine life images would not be possible if it were not for the generosity of commercial and recreational fishermen in Guernsey, and seafood suppliers at various trade shows in the USA, and wholesalers at Fulton Fish Market in New York City.

Many marine biologists have helped identify or confirm the identity of marine species photographed. These people have been mentioned when possible.

Please email: sealord@me.com or sustainableguernsey@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments about Sealord photography. Thank you. Richard Lord

Thank you for visiting Sealord photography on Smugmug.

Sealord photography focuses on three themes:

Biodiversity with an emphasis on marine life

Sustainability relating to construction & urban development; energy; food; transport; and waste.

The Guernsey community

Guernsey beach cleans and marine litter