Seaweek chance to connect and clean

‘‘We want people to enjoy our seas, go swimming, or surfing or diving, but also our seas need some help.’’

In the picturesque Marlborough Sounds with its abundance of wildlife, rare King Shags can be seen in their natural habitat – tangled up in fishing line.

Go for a snorkel, and you might find golf balls on the ocean floor, or lay down your towel and witness a chip packet blowing past in the wind.

Rubbish is impacting marine life, says Department of Conservation ranger Wendy Sullivan, but the annual Seaweek is a chance to connect with the ocean, and clean it up.

Community groups, businesses and individuals are combining their efforts in a multi-group, multi-location clean-up of Marlborough beaches and rivers for Seaweek.

‘‘We want people to enjoy our seas, go swimming, or surfing or diving, but also our seas need some help,’’ Sullivan said.

‘‘If every individual picked up one or two bits of plastic, that’s a lot of plastic being removed from the sea.’’

Rubbish could be an overwhelming problem, but she reminded people that any piece of rubbish picked up was a positive start.

‘‘It only takes one piece of plastic to kill a sea bird.’’

Rangers often saw King Shags tangled up in fishing gear.

They would catch them and rehabilitate them if possible, Sullivan said.

A screening of feature documentary BLUE and the Massive Marlborough Clean Up, were the ‘‘flagship’’ events of Seaweek which had events running from February 29 to March 8.

The film screening, co-hosted by Envirohub Marlborough at Endeavour

Pavilion on March 4, was a ‘‘hard hitting’’ look at the drastic decline in ocean health.

‘‘It’s got some beautiful cinematography and interesting messages,’’ Sullivan said.

‘‘What we’re hoping is that it will generate some conversations and ideas that we can work on as a community and as individuals.’’

If people couldn’t attend the formal beach clean up in Picton, Sullivan encouraged people to do their own.

‘‘Just taking their family to the beach for a picnic and picking up some rubbish while they’re there would be amazing.’’

Seaweek was about ‘‘being connected to our seas’’, she said.

‘‘If people feel connected to the sea, they will start to think, ‘what else can I do to look after it?’.’’

If you’d like to host your own cleanup, please contact Wendy at wsullivan@doc.govt.nz.

Envirohub Marlborough would be hosting a public clean-up along the Picton foreshore/Shelley Beach on Sunday March 8 from 10am to 12pm.

Meet at the playground on the foreshore and bring a picnic lunch for afterwards. Bring solid footwear, gardening gloves and sunscreen.

Visit seaweek.org.nz for more information.

BRYA INGRAM/STUFF Envirohub Marlborough co-founder Tash Luxton, left, and Department of Conservation ranger Wendy Sullivan, right, are urging people to head to the beach and pick up rubbish during Seaweek.