No. 17 Praia do Carrapateira
Sometimes we come across a beach that is just overwhelmed with debris. This was one of them. The southern part of the beach is very popular with surfers. However the beach is over 2.8km long and the northern part seems to be mainly frequented people willing to go for a good walk! We later learnt that the beach had been cleaned up about three weeks before our visit. This is a stunning beach and a surfers paradise but it tells a story about the state of our oceans. Less than one month before our visit this beach was cleaned by over forty local volunteers who removed over three tons of plastic from the beach. These photos are taken just three weeks later. Given the amount of debris we suspect that the clean up may have been limited to the southern end of the beach. Apparently marine debris is a major issue on the west coast of Portugal.
All the usual debris was found, but a new one to me was a balloon that contained a small LED light and three batteries. I found two of these and I hate to think what this would do to anything that ate it. These things should definitely be removed from the market. Other items included masses of plastic bottles, lots of polystyrene pieces, fishing line and ropes, plastic packaging, a football, bottle tops, fishing crates, dead birds and so the list goes on.
All the usual debris was found, but a new one to me was a balloon that contained a small LED light and three batteries. I found two of these and I hate to think what this would do to anything that ate it. These things should definitely be removed from the market. Other items included masses of plastic bottles, lots of polystyrene pieces, fishing line and ropes, plastic packaging, a football, bottle tops, fishing crates, dead birds and so the list goes on.
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