Polhawn Cove: Nov 04
- Feb 05
(Click photo to
enlarge)
© All images subject to copyright |
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These pictures were taken in Polhawn Cove in Nov 04.
Some of these are within 60 m of
the beach. This shows an Aluminium off-cuts.Rags litter the ground.
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A
carpet of dense silt is suffocating the area.
In places "Beggiatoa" Bacteria makes the sea bed look like the
surface of the moon.The kelp is diseased. Rare corals are being choked.
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Silt in suspension is everywhere. Rags, old
overalls, rubbber gas masks, plastic sheeting and rubber
sheeting, old tarpaulins litter the ground.
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In shallow water where sunlight can penetrate, the kelp, corals
and vegetation should be thriving.
This is an ecosystem where there should be crabs, prawns and anemones
in plenty but almost everything is sick or dead or dying
. A diseased lobster in Polahwn Cove in Nov 04.
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There are sick cuttlefish in an area
that used to be a breeding ground.
There is gathering evidence that this is affecting the quality of
local marine wildlife and fisheries and possibly contaminating
shellfish. Another example of a diseased lobster.
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Silt in suspension is destroying visibility
and debris is
everywhere.
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Silt, alloy off-cuts and plastics next to rare red scarlet
and gold star corals (20 Feb 05) |
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Frighteningly, the above may not be the worst of the
problem. There is increasing evidence that the silt
dredged up from the bed of the River Tamar may
contain a cocktail of toxic
heavy metals that would not be allowed to be dumped inland. For
hundreds of years, mining waste products have leached into the
Tamar and the silt on the bed of the River is rich in such
delights as Lead, Arsenic and
Cadmium.
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