If you go out and about at this time of year on the Pembrokeshire coast after the winter storms you may see lots of litter on the beach.

Litter can come from beach users, fly-tipping, sewage, angling, commercial fishing activities, shipping and other activities which may occur further up river such as agriculture or from urban environments.

It is a complex issue as it can be difficult to source marine litter accurately and therefore hard to assess accountability.

The seas do not recognise political boundaries and so it is an issue which spans many areas of legislation and policy. There is no single lead body in the UK and no dedicated marine litter strategy

Marine litter can have significant impacts on any wildlife that comes into contact with it, either by getting tangled in it or by eating it, with often fatal consequences.

Also not only is the litter not nice to look at, but it also can have economic impacts such as on tourism or on the fishing industry in terms of getting fishing gear entangled.

What we see on the beach is still a very small fraction of what is out and about in the sea either floating or causing damage on the sea floor.

Also the problem of litter is that there is an accumulative effect, so that litter that found its way into the sea 20 years ago is still causing problems today.

This is because of the length of time that things, particularly plastics, can take to degrade, hence the accumulative effect.

Plastic bottles can take around 450 years to degrade and even cigarette butts can take three to five years to degrade.

The Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum is hosting an event entitled 'Marine Litter Day' to be held at the Merlin Theatre, Pembrokeshire College on Saturday, March 13.

The event is an ideal way to find out more about sources and impacts of coastal/marine litter and what you can do to help locally.

The day will comprise a series of talks with opportunities to ask questions. 

The event is free and open to all. Registration will be from 9.30 am onwards for a 10 am start and a 2.30 pm finish.

To reserve a place, please email [email protected]">[email protected] or call Daryl on 01646 696171.

To find out more about the work of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, visit http://www.pembrokeshirecoastalforum.org.uk">www.pembrokeshirecoastalforum.org.uk

Linking in with the event, Keep Wales Tidy is holding a beach clean on Sunday, March 14, at Freshwater West, starting at 10 am.

If you would like to help with this, contact Mari Williams, of Keep Wales Tidy, on 01646 681949.