Member Article

Raise a glass to the coastal crusaders

A coastal conservation project will be raising a glass this Christmas to the incredible 10,000 hours its volunteers have spent collecting marine rubbish from the area’s beaches and coastal paths this year.

Over 800 coastal crusaders, who are part of the Coast Care project, have collected an incredible 24.5 tonnes/2207 bags of rubbish since the start of 2018, and been involved in a number of other coastal related tasks.

As marine conservation was flagged up so brilliantly by Sir David Attenborough in his Blue Planet 2 television series at the end of last year, volunteers and staff are gearing up for an even busier 2019.

Talking about the rubbish filled year, Beck Waring Coast Care Project Manager said: “The UK’s 11,073 miles of coastline is host to thousands of species which live in our seas including corals, whales, dolphins, basking sharks, seals plus fascinating fish and I am so proud of our volunteers who are working tirelessly to protect many of these species.

“If anybody deserves to put their feet up this Christmas it’s them, but I can guarantee they won’t - they’ll be out there over the festive season collecting even more rubbish.”

Coast Care is a partnership project between Northumberland Coast AONB, Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Seahouses Development Trust. It is supported thanks to money raised by National Lottery players through a grant of £522,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF),

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Northumberland Wildlife Trust .