by Tom Stanton, Loughborough University
Thank you very much to everyone who supported our two weeks of fieldwork on Skye during July, and for all of the work that you put in during the run up to our trip.
I wanted to share a top-level summary of what we have done this year, and what we are planning next.
- Beaches surveyed and cleaned: 8
- Number of pieces of litter surveyed 2024: 12 209
- Number of pieces of litter surveyed 2023 + 2024: 26 118
- Most common items found in 2024*: 1) Rope pieces – all types (2470), 2) Fishing net pieces / clippings (1846), 3) Plastic bottle caps / lids (638), 4) Creel pot coating (408), 5) Strapping bands (315)
- Oldest piece of litter: Lobster tag from Newfoundland, 1989
- Furthest travelled piece of litter: Crab tag, Florida 1996/97
*Data excluding unidentifiable pieces of plastic (3181)
Photo: Dan Milner
In addition to the litter we have surveyed and collected, we have 1) conducted a further three interviews to better inform our understanding the social and historical context of beach litter; 2) launched a survey to hopefully reach even more beach cleaners around Skye; 3) collected three peat cores from locations behind a beach, to see if microplastic particles are being blown from beaches inland, and how this might have changed through time; 4) made it to the beach surveyed in 1972 that inspired this project; 5) run a pilot assessment of the suitability of drones to aid beach litter surveys; and 6) successfully trialled the use of a submersible remotely operated vehicle to identify litter on the sea bed.
Looking forward:
We have already secured funding for a return visit in Summer 2025, and are hoping to return before then as well. We are seeking larger pots of funding that will enable us to extend the work we are doing beyond 2025 and beyond Skye, and also direct more funding to the marine litter work being done locally. We are in the process of identifying artists across Skye who might be interested in helping us communicate the extent and nature of marine litter on Scotland’s west coast to people who are not fortunate enough to have visited this part of Scotland.
If you have any questions, please do let me know. We have written up the data from last year into a journal article manuscript, which we will now incorporate this year’s data into. When this work is published, we will be sure to share with you all. All who have supported our work will be acknowledged in this publication.
We will be in touch over the next year to discuss our plans for our 2025 trip. Please do let us know if there is anything you think we should be looking at, anywhere we should be visiting, or anyone else we should be speaking to.
Thank you / Tapadh Leat.
contact: Tom Stanton