Thousands of small plastic pellets known as nurdles have been found washed up on Ovingdean and Hove beaches.
Nurdles are a raw material used by manufacturers to make plastic products. Because they are so small some of them are going to escape, spilled from shipping containers or down storm drains, and they quite often end up in the sea.
Yesterday, Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Mike Murphy found thousands on Ovingdean beach, and took these pictures showing how many are strewn along the shore.
And according to the Nurdle Hunt’s UK map, one beachcomber reported finding up to a thousand on Hove Beach in February too.
Sarah Ward, Sussex Wildlife Trust’s living seas officer, said of the Ovingdean nurdles: I was quite shocked at those pictures when I saw them, the extent of what’s been washed up.
“They’re all of a similar size and colour which indicates they have come from the same place. It would seem that there’s probably been a spill somewhere and because of the tides they have managed to get washed up in one place. I have not had any information about where they’ve come from though.
“They have a varied impact on marine life. These ones are black but we do get them in different colours and sea animals can mistake them for eggs so marine life will directly ingest them and that’s not good for obvious reasons.
“Because it’s plastic, it will never completely break down and disperse, it will just get broken into smaller pieces which means that smaller and smaller animals can ingest them – even plankton, and it gets into the food chain.
“The fish that we are taking out of the sea for human consumption will have plastic in it.
“The general public wouldn’t be able to stop them getting into the sea in the first place, but if you do see them on the beach, anybody that’s able to do a bit of a beach clean, that’s good.”
Surfers Against Sewage have been campaigning to reduce ‘mermaid’s tears’ or ‘nurdles’ on our beaches for many years. If you would to know more about how mermaid’s tears are released into the environment by accident or through careless storage practices at plastic production factories check out SAS’s Meemaud’s Tears campaign.
It is wonderful to see more nature conservation charities raising awareness of the damage mermaid’s tears cause to the oceans.
Atlanta Cook
Honorary Life Member Surfers Against Sewage
I found lots of these Nurdles along Worthing beach and have reported them to FIDRA..any idea if there has been a spill? If these are from a factory it rather than a container it’s a shame we can’t trace the Nurdles back..
Sarah
http://www.message-in-a-bottle.co.uk