Studies on beach sands around Lake Michigan and Lake Superior in the USA have shown that beach sands are an important refuge for E. coli, and concentrations of the bacteria in the sand may be many times greater than that in the water, and persist for considerable periods of time. Scientists estimate that between 10 and 30 people per thousand are in danger of stomach upsets if they eat after playing in the sand without cleaning their hands – simply rinsing reduces the danger dramatically, though scrubbing with soap is best.

Frustratingly these studies refer to fresh water lakes, and it is not clear whether or not the same might be true of sea-water bathing beaches. Still, it is clearly advisable to follow your mother’s advice and always wash your hands before eating!

References
United States Geological Survey (2009, August 12). What Science Says About Beach Sand And Stomach Aches. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
American Chemical Society (2007, May 29). Beach Sand May Harbor Disease-causing E. Coli Bacteria. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 13, 2009.

The excellent BBC television news reports recently from Midway Island in the Pacific graphically outlined the problems and dangers to marine life caused by the massive amounts of plastic in the marine environment. it did however lead some people to believe that that is where all the rubbish in the sea ends up.
It would be very good if the BBC could run a similar series of reports around the coastline of the UK to coincide with the launch of the Beachwatch 2007 report on Thursday the 10th. April 2008.
This would show that unfortunately we have a similar amount of plastic waste in the seas around our shores and on our beaches as anywhere else in the world.
Surveys by volunteers has shown an increase in beach litter of almost 100% since 1994, over 50% of this is made up of plastic.
As well as the hazard caused to marine life and birds by ingestion and entanglement, beach litter costs thousands of pounds each year to clean up, do you want to sit on a dirty beach ?
It can create a major health hazard to people and spoils the beauty of some of our wonderful coasatal locations.
Look out on Thursday 10th April in the press and media when the Marine Conservation Society will launch Beachwatch report 2007, an extremely thought provoking overview of the massive marine
litter problem in our coastal waters.
If you would like to help combat the problem, why not join the Lancashire Area Group of the Marine Conservation Society on a litter survey on Sunday 27th April 2008 at Half Moon Bay, Heysham. Further details of this event are on the diary page of our website.

Back in June we did a cleanup along the shore of the Lune in Lancaster, in conjunction with the Lancaster Maritime Museum, as part of their “Worse Things Happen at Sea” event.

Six of us (and Cassie the dog) spent three hours picking up litter from above the tideline on the Lune bank opposite the Maritime Museum, and over all we picked up 8 bags of rubbish and some items too large to fit in bags.

While we didn’t weigh and classify the rubbish that we collected as we would on one of our quarterly beach cleans, it was obvious that nearly all of it came from people throwing drinks bottles and fast food wrappers away as they walked back along the river from the city centre. This is not surprising when you consider that there are no litter bins along that length (about a mile).

Other very sad things that we found included discarded jewellery boxes, presumably from robberies, some syringes, and a number of children’s toys.

On a positive note, you could see clearly where we had cleaned- it did make a difference!

If you’re interested in coming along on our quarterly beach cleans, do get in touch with us as extra hands are always really handy.