Take extra care of fishing gear
Bagfuls of waste washed up on Sunderland's shoreline has been removed by campaigners as they call on fishing enthusiasts to keep it out of the sea.
Vijay Kritzinger filled five bin liners with rubbish from Roker Beach at the weekend.
It included fishing line, hooks and weights, with lobster pots also found tangled up in seaweed.
The discovery of so much kit – known as ghost gear – has led her to call on people who spend time on Sunderland’s coastline and the River Wear to take more care of their supplies and equipment, as it is feared it will harm sealife.
She said a cormorant recently washed up with a hook in his neck on the beach, while plastic sheeting, tarpaulin, clothing, sanitary towels and tampon applicators were also binned after they were found during the session.
Vijayi sam ember of the Sea Shepherd group, which is due to restart regular beach cleans along the coast following a halt during the pandemic, as well as the
British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), which cares for injured and sick wildlife, including seals.
She told the Echo: “I’m going to send my findings to Sunderland City Council, because I think they would be quite appalled by the volume of it.
"What I saw the other day might be because it was the Bank Holiday and the tractor has not been in operation but it just shows how much litter has been washed up from the sea or washed down the river and then back onto the beach.
"I’ m concerned with how much there is, for wildlife it's a danger and I think people who are fishing need
to be more responsible for their gear.
"I found four lobster pots in the seaweed, three of them without tags, and we call it ghost gear, because it disappears and comes back.
"If people are down on the beach, we’d ask them to take along a bag and pick things up as they go.”
The council has added extra bins along the coast after it voiced fury at the state people had left the beach in during the hot weather.
More details can be found about Sea Shepherd via https://www. facebook. com/ Sea Shepherd UK and the BDL MR through https://www.facebook.com/BDMLR.