Angling community called upon to help protect coastline

A new conservation project is planning on cleaning up marine litter in one of Newquay’s most popular fishing spots and is calling on the help of the angling community .

The Newquay Coastal Clean-up project is the creation of a group of students from the BSc Applied Marine Zoology degree course at Cornwall College Newquay. 

Their aim is to reduce angling litter around Towan Headland by raising awareness of the issue and providing local anglers with increased opportunities to dispose of their litter.

Jay Boyle is one of the students involved in the project and says the group “hopes that the angling community will encourage the minority who leave litter behind to start disposing of this in an appropriate manner”.

“We also want to raise awareness of the potential consequences it can have to the marine environment, local wildlife and water users,” Jay continues.

Example of the types of litter left by anglers 

“We plan to install an educational sign and a 'line bin' in Towan Headland car park, for the disposal of mono-filament and other forms of fishing line, which will help massively to reduce litter at fishing marks around the area.”

example of a line bin / fishing line littering the coastline

Jay adds that it had been great to see the support already received from the local community and said “those we have interacted with through social media have already taken it upon themselves to make a difference”.


The students came up with the idea for the project collectively as part of a project management module for their degree and are each involved in aspects such as fundraising, social media, photography, and website maintenance.

 “The initial idea came from a couple of people in the group, who are both anglers who regularly fish the area and were fed up of seeing the shocking amount of litter left in what is a simply astonishingly beautiful area,” Jay continues.

“Our idea was pitched to the others in the group, and although the rest of them weren't anglers, they were either divers who use the area or passionate conservationists who could envisage the potential for this project. The idea snowballed from there, some research was done and everyone was fully on-board with the idea. It really is a pleasure to work with like-minded people, striving to achieve the same goal and need no motivation.”

What distinguishes the project from others of its kind is that most conventional beach cleans on the Newquay coastline don’t access the Towan Head area. The large amount of litter left around the headland makes it a real concern, having a huge effect on the marine environment and wildlife. The conservation of Newquay’s unique coastal areas is hugely important to the group of students involved.

Jay says he had “spent my entire life a stone’s throw from the ocean and have never really been apart from it”.

“What started off as a hobby, then grew into something more, I wanted to learn about more than just the types of fish I was catching; which led me to pursuing a career in marine conservation and zoology through Cornwall College Newquay. Since being on the course, I have learned vast amounts about the marine environment, but there is still so much left to learn and that's what I really love about it. It’s not a case of learning the theory and then knowing everything, science is always progressing and there's always more to learn.”

Find out more about the Newquay Coastal Clean-up project:

Facebook: Newquay Coastal Cleanup

Twitter: @NQYcoastcleanup

Instagram: newquaycoastalcleanup

For more information on Zoology, Marine and Surf courses available at Cornwall College Newquay visit www.cornwall.ac.uk or call 0845 22 32 567.