Litter levels on the UK’s beaches have reached their highest since records began, the Marine Conservation Society has revealed following its latest Beachwatch survey.

Beachwatch 2008 showed that litter on beaches has increased by 110% since the annual survey began in 1994 and the MCS is calling on governments to band together to form a co-ordinated marine litter strategy.

Ten of Northern Ireland’s beaches were scoured by a total of 174 volunteers during the Beachwatch survey in September last year.

They discovered a total of 6,017 items of litter over a total length of 6.4km, which was the lowest density of public litter, fishing litter and shipping for all UK regions.

“However, it should be noted that during 2008 only 10 beaches were surveyed in Northern Ireland - such small samples cannot be used to give a representative indication of beach litter in Northern Ireland as a whole,” MCS cautioned.

Public litter was the greatest source of litter (523.8/km) on Northern Ireland’s beaches, representing 55.7% of all litter recorded.

Fishing litter was the second most common source of litter (50.5 items/km). Sewage related debris was the third most common source of litter (30/km), followed by shipping litter (24.4/km).

The beaches examined were Brown’s Bay, Carnlough and Glenarm in Co Antrim, Kilkeel, Killyleagh Bay, Mill Bay, Mill Quarter Bay, Newcastle, Castleward Bay in Co Down and Portstewart Strand in Co Londonderry.

Across the UK as a whole, average figures were 2,195 litter items/km of beaches surveyed compared to 1,045 items/km in 1994.

Marine litter kills wildlife, can be hazardous to people and costs millions to clear up, the society warned.

Over 170 species of marine wildlife including seabirds, turtles and whales have been recorded mistaking marine litter for food, which can result in starvation, poisoning and fatal stomach blockages.

Last year, a leatherback turtle which died in Strangford Lough was found to have a plastic bag in its stomach.

“This is a man-made problem. Every piece of litter has an owner and we all need to take responsibility to not drop litter in the first place,” Emma Snowden, MCS litter projects co-ordinator, said.