Plastic Pembrokeshire
It’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog post. It’s fair to say that 2020 has been a hectic year for all of us; unexpected, uncertain, unprecedented. It’s taken a direction none of us anticipated at the beginning of the year and it’s been difficult to make that adjustment. At times it has lacked motivation and I’ve felt lost with my direction - I’m sure you’ve felt the same at times.
This year was pencilled in as a landmark year for environmental activism, and although we haven’t been able to be physically present to stand up for our planet, it has been inspiring to see the collection of voices from all over the world who have come together virtually. The power of both media and technology has been paramount in connecting us all and propelling the environmental movement forward, and I have equally felt incredibly optimistic about the future because of this. Being a part of the Youth for Our Planet and Youth for Our Oceans groups has been a great honour, and attending the WWF Changemakers Virtual Conference last week with the final event being a Q&A session with Sir David Attenborough and the filmmakers behind A Life On Our Planet was truly an opportunity I will never forget. If you haven’t seen the film you can watch it here on Netflix.
Nine months into the year and I decided to regain my own momentum. It’s been a hectic time starting my new position with the Angling Trust, alongside working on various other freelance projects including my new book, podcasting and photography shoots, without the unpredictability presented by both the global pandemic and the ecological crisis. But nature is the best medicine and I’m a glass half full type of girl. Excited to reconnect with our seas I booked a trip to snorkel with blue sharks in the Celtic Deep with one of my best friends - ecologist and science communicator, Sophie Cunnington.
Sharks in the UK are a new one for me. We have over 40 species here in the UK, both migratory and residential, and with the pandemic preventing us from adventuring overseas, it seemed like there was no better time than 2020 to connect with these magical fish in my home waters. Blue sharks are a species I’ve been wanting to encounter for a while too - they are one of the most heavily fished shark species worldwide and every summer stories pop up in the UK press of these ‘deadly’ sharks prowling our coastline. According to the International Shark Attack File there have been 4 unprovoked fatal attacks by blue sharks since 1580 - using that I’ll let you make up your own mind about how ‘deadly’ to us they truly are.
Our perceptions of sharks and the role the media has to play in that consensus is something I’m incredibly interested in, both as an academic and as a conservationist. Many tourism operators around the world showcase that sharks are worth far more alive than dead and its a growing industry. Sadly, it is not as clear cut as that and it’s important that tourism is both ethical and responsible, and also follows scientific guidelines for best management practices to ensure they are not harming the species they are aiming to protect. Alas, that’s another blog post for another day. On this occasion my dream of snorkelling with and filming blue sharks was not to be thanks to the weather having other ideas.
“It is the worst of times but it is also the best of times because we still have a chance”
- Dr. Sylvia Earle
Nevertheless the Pembrokeshire coast offers some of the most stunning coastal environments the UK has to offer, so of course we had to explore. We headed to the National Trust Marloes Sand beach, which is an incredible expanse of sand bordered by dramatic geology on one side and crashing surf on the other. From above it appears to be a pristine wilderness, but on the ground you very quickly uncover the man-made invaders that litter the coastline.
Truly, I was shocked at the shear abundance and distribution of plastics - both macro and micro - that were scattered everywhere in sight. It was heartbreaking and it was difficult to know where to begin collecting.
We were unequipped to deal with the breadth of plastics we found with only my tripod case to hand for cleaning the beach. But we are marine conservationists at heart and we couldn’t leave without doing our bit for our seas. So we found a cove, decided to focus on smaller plastics, fishing line and rope, and stuffed my tripod case full of as much debris as we could - better off the beach than entangling a seal or being engulfed by seabirds.
It may not seem like much but every piece of plastic removed counts. Whether you spend two minutes or twenty, you can make a difference to our marine environments and the wildlife that call them home. Even better than that we can focus on restructuring our economy from a linear model to a circular one, prioritising reusable materials over the single-use consumer culture we’ve become accustomed too.
It’s true that plastic does have its role in our society. It’s revolutionised medicine, for example, and has been integral to fighting the pandemic. But it is our relationship with plastic, and materials in general, that needs to change for the good of our planet.
Although the main driver for our trip to Wales was experiencing blue sharks, it still provided with us the chance to reconnect with marine conservation on the ground. Lots of our time these days is spent locked away in an office writing and researching about these issues from behind a screen with opportunities to get out in the field becoming rarer and rarer - especially in the covid era.
When face-to-face with the degradation of the natural world it is difficult to not feel motivation to protect what you love. The feeling of astonishment I experienced when encountering the abundance of plastics on this beach will be one I remember for a long time. It was not the worst case of plastic pollution I have seen around the world, of course, but in my naivety I assumed things would be better here. After the past few years working in marine conservation abroad, it bought home to me the realities facing our seas in the UK, and it was the momentum I personally needed to get back on the activism horse.