L'Eree is one of only three included in the 2004 Good Beach Guide

The drop in the number featured in the Marine Conservation Society's annual guide has been blamed on the location of sewage outfalls.

The three beaches which have made the grade are: L'Eree, Grand Rocques and Port Soif Bay. Pembroke and Portelet have been removed from the list.

The Marine Conservation Society bases its findings on water standards and sewage levels.

The Environment Department's Steve Smith said it was a disadvantage if the beaches were near a sewage outlet.

He said: "The real issue is that a number of the beaches - the vast majority - are within five kilometres of a sewage outfall.

"That is an automatic restriction from inclusion in the scheme, no matter how good the water is.

"The very fact that the proximity's there, that's what the exclusion is."