A volunteer beach clean team removed more than 70 kilograms of plastic waste from the sea and shore in Brighton in just four hours.
More than 100 people clearing beaches were joined by divers who collected plastic litter underwater in the area around the Palace Pier.
The volunteers were led by experts from Sea Life Brighton who organised the beach clean for World Ocean Day last Thursday (15 June).
Sea Life said that “123 volunteers collect a whopping 73.7 kilograms (11 stone 8lb) of litter over a four-hour period”.
Sea Life said: “The mass of plastic waste was primarily made up of food packaging that had been left on the beach, as well as some unusual and larger objects including a pair of flamingo earrings and half a deck chair.
“This is a huge difference to the previous year of the annual event, as the results were double that of the 2022 World Ocean Day beach clean that consisted of 37 participants and collected 40kg of litter.
“In addition to the efforts on land, experts at Sea Life Brighton teamed up with Oyster Diving to conduct the first ever underwater clean around the Brighton Palace Pier which resulted in the collection of countless disposable vapes and other plastic waste.
“The team of divers even retrieved a full bottle of beer, novelty sunglasses and a mobile phone from the ocean bed.
“The real extent of the impact all this litter is having on local marine life was made clear by the sea creatures the divers encountered, including a tompot blenny (fish) found living in a plastic tube, muscles attached to a laminated sign and a hairclip covered in sea anemones.
“This comes after the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) reported that more than half (52 per cent) of the world’s turtles have eaten plastic waste – and if things don’t change, by 2050 there could be more plastic in the sea than fish.
“Every year more than one million marine animals die from plastic debris in our oceans, with more than 80 per cent of all harmful pollutants tracing back to human activities on land, according to the global conservation charity, Sea Life Trust.
“In addition to this annual effort, marine experts at Sea Life Brighton regularly participate in beach cleans as well as offering corporate beach cleaning days to help rid the shoreline of pollution all year round and protect the oceans for future generations.”
Sea Life Brighton general manager Neil Harris said: “The beach clean was a huge success, helping to free the shoreline of more than 70kg of litter. This will be a huge relief for local marine life.
“Sea Life Brighton is committed to continuing these efforts to rid local beaches of plastic waste and pollution, to protect our environment and all creatures therein.
“We can’t thank the volunteers enough who came down and helped out on the day, making it possible to collect and remove so much harmful litter.”
Sea Life Brighton curator Joe Williams said: “It is devastating to see our local marine life become so entangled in plastic waste, knowing that countless sea creatures are killed by litter every year.
“Thankfully, we were able to free the creatures we came across in the process of removing harmful waste from the seabed around the pier.
“It is really important that we protect marine life with underwater cleans like this one as well as beach cleans as, unfortunately, lots of rubbish can be hidden under the surface of the water.”
They should probably try and make this a weekly event, Sundays or something. Have half start at the marina and half start at the lagoon. But they really do need to put more bins in the beach and clamp down on the littering