South West beach ‘the worst’
Plastic is endangering marine and birdlife along South West beaches, according to a report from the CSIRO released this week.
The research into the amount of litter on beaches around Australia pinpointed a South West beach as the worst in the State for the amount of rubbish collected on it.
Researchers from the CSIRO visited 170 sites and did 575 surveys around the country to measure the amount and type of litter.
CSIRO scientist Denise Hardesty said the litter problem typically became worse, when compared to population density, on stretches that had few people living nearby.
Beaches, like Bunbury’s Back Beach, were often cared for by members of the community who used it regularly, Dr Hardesty said.
The worst beach in the State for litter was Ellensbrook Beach near Margaret River and the best was 80 Mile Beach in Broome.
Dr Hardesty said people liked to think the litter was washing onto shores from other countries, but the reality was most of it originated in Australia.
She said the biggest issue they saw was from plastics and fishing gear.
Soft plastics like bags were often eaten by animals such as turtles, whales and dolphins and the same animals also became entangled in fishing lines and nets.
Dr Hardesty said hard plastics that were broken into small pieces and floated were the biggest threat to sea birds.
“We often think it’s seabirds in the eastern States that have lots of plastic in them but we’ve found that birds feeding on the continental shelf off WA are eating plastic too.”
Tangaroa Blue Foundation – the organisation behind the Australian Marine Debris Initiative – has collected and recorded litter along South West beaches for 10 years.
On beaches around the lower South West plastic fragments accounted for 85 per cent of the litter with most of that plastic washing up from the ocean.
In Geographe Bay items discarded on the beach accounted for more of the litter.
Fishing lines, cigarette butts, plastic bags and food and drink containers were commonly found.
The group had also recorded an increase in the amount of rubbish collected.
