Fishing lines and hooks, sardine boxes, plastic, glass bottles, chip packets and cigarette butts are what volunteers found strewn across many South Coast beaches recently.
The mission to clean up the beaches came after Nikita McColl (19) from Umzumbe found an injured Cape gannet on the beach last weekend.
Sadly, the large beautiful seabird, which was collected by the Lower South Coast SPCA, died on the way to the veterinarian.
“This Cape gannet was a victim of people who carelessly disposed of their fishing hooks and line on the beach. There was a lump on its neck, and I think it may have been a fishing hook lodged in its throat,” she said.
Nikita urged fishermen and beachgoers not to just throw their rubbish onto the beach.
“If you see litter lying on our beaches, please pick it up as it lands up in the ocean and can affect all animals,” she said.
This Cape gannet is not the first bird reported to face a terrible fate.
An Anerley resident spotted a stork sitting in a tree, trying to free itself from the tackle in its mouth and around its leg. Sadly, the bird flew off before help arrived.
Reports of dogs needing emergency operations to remove lodged hooks have also surfaced on social media.
The urgent threat seabirds and other animals face prompted Nikita and some members of her family to clean up the beaches.
The small group of volunteers tackled Umzumbe, Pumula, Anerley, Southport and Sea Park in two days.
Bags and bags of litter, mostly filled with discarded fishing tackle, was collected off the rocks and beach.
“As we were cleaning the beach in Sea Park, a few fishermen and beachgoers joined in to help pick up the trash strewn all over the beach for miles,” said a volunteer, who asked to remain anonymous.
The South Coast community is now urged to lend a hand and support environmental activist Zoë Prinsloo (22) of Save a Fishie as she cleans Port Shepstone and Sunwich Port beaches this weekend.
Zoë is from Cape Town and is currently cleaning beaches on her Coast to Coast Beach Clean-up campaign.
So far, she has been on the road for 19 days and has collected more than three tons of litter from beaches across the country.
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