03 Oct 2006

The Clean Up Our Coast - Quick Fact Sheet

• Nearly 500,000 square metres of coast have been cleaned up over the past two years.

• The Hawkes Bay Guides found 889 pieces of marine debris over a three-hour period cleaning an estuary in Napier

• A clean up at Moturua Island (Rabbit Island) on 22 January 2006, yielded 2219 pieces of marine debris. That equates to 11.1 pieces every 100 square metres.

• Urban clean ups show a high tendency for people to dump undelivered junk mail and glass bottles / food wrapping on the beach.

• The Christmas and New Year periods saw a change in the type of coastal rubbish. After a February collection at Apuapu Bay, on Ponui Island in the Hauraki Gulf, items such as toothbrushes, a sunglass case, cigarette lighters, masking tape and clothing pegs were found.

• The Coromandel region has the highest amount of marine debris. Its mean number is 5.8 pieces of debris per 100 square metres. That’s more than twice the amount of debris found in Auckland, sitting at 2.5 pieces per 100 square metres.

• Approximately 82% of all marine debris collected is composed of glass, hard plastics and fishing gear.

• Metal, paper, textiles and foam plastics account for 17% of marine debris.

• Potentially dangerous debris such as syringes, condoms and other sanitary items have been collected at a variety of beaches.

• Some of the interesting items found during the clean-ups include half a sponge mattress, a steering console from a burnt boat, a diving mask, a wetsuit sleeve, 3 square metres of carpet, apiece of a car fender, a car bumper, a piece of a surfboard, a car muffler, two hubcaps and a cow tag.

• Botany Downs Secondary College encountered a very distressed seagull caught with a fishhook in its mouth whilst conducting a clean up. They attempted to free it, but while doing so the seagull escaped with the hook still stuck in its beak.

• The impact of fishing pollution on our waters is starting to take its toll. During the clean up at Moturua Island, 283 pieces of short rope, 100 metres of fishing line in 11 pieces and 32 bait bags were found.