Touch of glamour for beach clean-up

The chance to inject a bit of glamour and fun to promote World Environment Day was just what was needed on a gloomy day in Lowestoft. Forget Kim and Aggie cleaning up your filthy home, how about Kate and Annie spring-cleaning the beach at Lowestoft in their glamorous Marigolds? Kate Francis and Annie McClarnon, Communications staff at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), hatched the idea to promote the 30th World Environment Day on 5 June.

The dynamic duo threw down the gauntlet (well, rubber gloves) and challenged fellow staff and friends to join them in a beach clean-up on Friday 4 June. The area covered was the beach beneath the Cefas laboratory site on the cliffs at Pakefield, south along to Pakefield Causeway. To add to the party mood, fellow cleaners were invited to customise their rubber gloves, with a prize going to the wildest pair.

It was all in aid of a good cause. World Environment Day is the year’s most important occasion for focusing worldwide attention on the environment. It is a people's event with global participation. Celebrated in many ways, people all over the world have previously been involved in street rallies, bicycle parades, concerts, school activities and tree planting as well as recycling and clean-up campaigns.

Cefas Health & Safety officer Daniel Haynes and a Waveney District Council representative gave the band of cleaners a briefing before handing out gloves, rubbish grabbers and bin bags for the actual clean-up. The cleaners were also asked by Cefas scientist Ewan Hunter to keep a look-out for skate and ray egg cases, popularly known as ’mermaids’ purses’, which are increasingly rare on beaches these days.

‘Given our name, location and the type of work we do, it seemed natural that we should try to highlight the marine environment in some way. All Cefas facilities are based near beaches or estuaries around the English coastline, so what better way to make the connection? Finding two rare mermaids’ purses really made the day for us. Events like this just show how easy it can be to do your bit – however small,’ said Kate Francis.

Notes to editors

1. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment, based at Lowestoft since 1902. It became an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (formerly MAFF) in 1997.  
2. Cefas undertakes work on fisheries management, environmental protection and aquaculture. It offers a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities to government departments (UK and foreign, central and local), international agencies, commercial companies and aid organisations.   
3. The United Nations General Assembly established World Environment Day in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Since then, it has been held every year, always on the same date, and with an ever-growing list of participating countries. Besides popular events, the day is also marked by a global summit attended by important environmental and governmental representatives, each year held by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at a new host city.  
4. The Environment Agency is inviting people to make a simple pledge to do their bit for the environment. Celebrities and members of the public have all been encouraged to visit their website to find out more about World Environment Day and the events surrounding it: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ 
5. Skate and rays are increasingly rare species as their egg cases are vulnerable to fishing activity. More information about these species and the hunt for ‘mermaids purses’ can be found from the Shark Trust’s website: http://www.sharktrust.org/.

Press contact: Anne McClarnon 01502 524370 / anne.mcclarnon@cefas.co.uk