By Dan Milner
Sleat Nature Groups’s marine litter weekend (26-27 July) went with a bang despite the inclement weather! Joining the group this time for their quarterly marine litter survey of Ostaig beach on the Saturday, were Dr Tom Stanton and his team from Loughborough University—the team behind the 50 Years Of Litter on Skye project. A larger group on the beach this time enabled four quadrats rather than the usual two to be surveyed, with litter collected, sorted, identified and documented as usual, to feed data into both Loughborough’s project report as well as to the Scottish Island Federation (SIF) and Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) data sets on marine litter and its sources.
Sunday morning saw some 35 people congregate on Ostaig beach for a community beach clean. Heavy rain failed to dampen spirits, and by 11 am two boat-loads of litter totalling 580 kg were removed to a waiting skip provided by the Highland Council for disposal.
The clean was followed by the Life’s A Beach event at Sleat community hub, An Crùbh. Some 150 people dropped by during the afternoon to learn more about ocean plastics, marine litter and its outcomes and how we can combat it. Sleat Nature Group presented their findings from a year of surveys, as well as a ‘finds table’ revealing the most interesting and eye-opening items of marine litter found on Ostaig Beach.
Other stands and displays by organisations that are involved in marine litter and its impacts—including Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA), Skye Beach Cleans, Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), Fishing for Litter, Highlands & Islands Climate Hub, British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), and 50 Years of Litter on Skye—helped inform an info-hungry public about everything from ocean plastics to whale entanglement.
Kids were kept engaged by activities such as a ‘marine litter treasure hunt’, while local photographer Simon Riddell exhibited some of his wet plate photography work on the theme, and Gail McGregor-Mason held focus in the centre of the room with a stirring installation. Anthony Riggell projected some of his incredible footage of entangled whales, and beach cleans, and Shore to Floor exhibited the kind of floor mats you can make by recycling flotsam rope.
The energy and enthusiasm of the participating local and national groups, and the interest shown by visitors, gives hope that together we can tackle marine litter and its impacts on marine life around our shores. As individuals we can also do things that will make a difference. Six suggestions are listed below.