Hundreds of plastic bottles found in first north coast litter pick
Coastal clean-up recovers enough plastic bottles to fill 14 bin bags
Last updated 18th Apr 2018
Hundreds of plastic bottles have been recovered from the shoreline around the north coast in a litter pick at sea.
Staff from local businesses and divers joined National Trust volunteers to scour the coastline around Ballycastle, in a bid to tackle marine pollution.
Our reporter Tara McLaughlin spent the day at sea, as part of the clean up operation.
Staff from Aquaholics, Causeway Lass and Causeway Coasteering took part in the initiative along the inaccessible bays between Dunseverick Castle and the Giant's Causeway world Heritage site.
Alongside plastic bottles, parts from industrial fishing ships, empty plastic fuel canisters, a lobster pot and many more items were recovered.
Hector Lafferty was one of the divers involved, he told us plastic bottles are the coastline's biggest threat:
"At the minute, the water is just so polluted with plastic bottles," he said.
He added: "You'll know yourself, if you're on any one of these beaches, it's completely covered and it's just really important to get it lifted because it doesn't degrade."
Josh McMichael also helped with the clean up operation.
"We picked up about, I'd say a couple of hundred plastic bottles, a lot of energy drinks.
"We also picked up a couple of broken off riggers, off industrial fishing ships which have been washed ashore," he said.
"This is a tiny area, this is only one cove on the coast and the amount of rubbish there's a bit ridiculous," he added.
A recent report revealed 82% of marine litter found in 2017 was plastic, highlighting the extent of the problem.
Neville McConaghey is a volunteer officer for the Giants Causeway and Carrick a rede portfolio on the north coast with the national trust.
He said the increase in the amount of rubbish on our coastline is a worrying trend:
"We just need to watch the show by Sir David Attenborough to see the damage this material is doing.
"We've seen birds, feeding their young with plastic, we've seen whales with plastic stuck in their blowholes, this needs to be sorted.
"There's eight million tonnes of rubbish in our seas and in our oceans in the UK and that's coming from our rivers and it's making it's way to the sea and into our ocean.
"They reckon by 2050, if we don't sort it, that there's going to be more plastic in the sea than there is fish."
"We look at this coastline and we've got a view at it today from the sea and it's absolutely magnificent and people come to this coastline from all over the world.
"The Giant's Causeway is a global site, people are coming from 187 different countries throughout the world and we want them to enjoy it, we want them to see it clean and tidy, the way that we really should be keeping it," he said.
He added: "I think... all you need to do is just look at that what the guys have actually just brought out of that one bay.
"There's six or seven bags of rubbish there and it's plastic bottles and it's everything to do with plastic and it's just great to get it lifted," he said.
