A NORTH Yorkshire businesswoman is urging people to think twice about releasing balloons to mark special events, saying they frequently have to fish them from the North Sea.

Jill Fraser-Smith, from Whitby Whale Watching, issued her appeal after pulling another bunch of balloons from the sea, where they posed a threat to wildlife.

Earlier in the summer they had pulled a bunch of balloons from the sea and discovered a puffin attached beneath them, which had got tangled up in the balloon strings.

Luckily the seabird was still alive and after being cut free by people on the boat was able to fly away.

Jill said: “We don’t want to go to war with people or be horrible about this; people generally don’t realise the damage all plastic does, particularly balloons.

“We just want to raise awareness. Animals get tangled in them. All sorts of plastic ends up in the sea and breaks up and degrades, animals in the sea; whales, dolphins see it floating on the sea from below and think it’s food and birds see it from above and think the same. Whales which have been washed up are often found full of plastic. Often animals die of starvation because their stomachs of full of plastic and they can’t eat.”

Jill’s North Sea trips from Whitby have taken in sightings of minke, fin, sei and humpback whales over the past years, as well as thousands of seals, dolphins and porpoises.

She is urging people marking anniversaries, birthdays or other milestones to think about using alternatives such as releasing bubbles into the air.

“Balloon manufacturers are trying to change things and have brought out biodegradable balloons, but they take four years to degrade and by that time can have killed a lot of wildlife.

“It’s trying to get people to realise you can do other things to celebrate events or commemorate someone – apparently you can get paper balloons or send up bubbles instead. There’s lots of alternatives, but using balloons that harm wildlife isn’t a good legacy.”