The Coast Care volunteers were involved in the 2021 week long Great British Beach Clean for the Marine Conservation Societies, with surveys and beach cleans up and down the Northumberland Coast AONB, making our spectacular beaches even more inviting and conserving our special coastal environment.
The important surveys Coast Care completed for the MCS add into building up a national picture of the state of our beaches and help inform on national policy, changes to manufacturing and packaging and waste routes.
We were joined by a host of Volunteers including the Seahouses development trusts- Young adventures team and various families "to kick it off" at Seahouses on Saturday 18th, then we followed up with sessions and important surveys at Cocklawburn with Scremerston Primary year 4's, Beadnell beach, Lower newton, Sugar sands, Lower Newton, Amble and Druridge bay in the South of the County.
We picked and cleaned many beaches stopping litter from entering the marine environment, our Initial findings are that litter was light overall throughout the county but there were some hot spots especially around busy tourist areas and plastic food waste was one of the main culprits, along with continuing to find lots of waste from fishing practices- angling and commercial practices.
If you would like to get involved and volunteer with Coast Care drop us an email at info@coast-care.co.uk