Contents
Future events – Dungeness, Bexhill – Marine Conservation Society surveys
Past events – Nurdle hunts at River Rother, Cuckmere, Camber
#TeamsSeas Youtube video – Humorous take on ocean clean ups
Petition – Stop plastic pellet loss at sea (nurdles) – please sign…
Film – Cornwall’s seaside communities facing a future of sea level rise & coastal erosion
Training – Sewage related debris, establishing interest
National Buy Nothing Day – A time to re-assess our own consumerism
Welcome to the November/December News Sheet
Strandliners will have seen 10 Christmas seasons this December and much has changed, not always in the best ways. Since 2012…
– Plastic production has increased
– Plastic recycling has not increased Awareness of marine pollution has increased
– Greenwash has increased
– Strandliners events have increased from 7 to 40+ per year
– Strandliners volunteer hours have increased from 150 to 1,500 per year
We are growing, thanks to everyone who receives this news sheet, everyone who joins an event, everyone who passes on why we do this. Surveying environmental pollution creating a data-rich picture, enabling greater evidence to lobby for change.
Lastly, if anyone has any spare time and wishes to help with jobs to keep the work going, please email me at strandlinerscic@gmail.com. If we all do a little, then more can be achieved with less. Thank you to everyone who has replied so far.
Andy Dinsdale
Future Events
We still need to be aware of COVID guidelines, so events can still change.
Dungeness (Galloways), Marine Conservation Society Beach Clean & Survey
9am to 1pm, Saturday 11th December
Marine Conservation Society survey. 30 to 45 minute walk on shingle (each way) and a 2/3 hour survey activity. Please email strandlinersevents@gmail.com to book a place.
Bexhill, Marine Conservation Society Beach Clean & Survey
10am to 12noon, Sunday 12th December
This is Clean Seas Please event for the Marine Conservation Society. Venue to be confirmed, Bexhill. Please email strandlinersevents@gmail.com to book a place.
If anyone has already registered/booked for any of these events, there’s no need to register again.
Past Events
A wonderful group of nurdlers resting after cake at Camber Sands! Part of our Great Nurdle Hunt series of events, looking for nurdles, bio beads and micro plastic. Biobeads can be seen along the strandline and can be mistaken for black organic pieces of flotsam. Amazing volunteers, thank you.
River Rother, The Great Nurdle Hunt, Saturday 16th October
Saltmarsh and grazed grass riverbank strandline.
194 Biobeads, 56 nurdles
Found in pockets in grass and earth.
River Cuckmere, The Great Nurdle Hunt, Saturday 30th October
Old strandline and saltmarsh riverbank strandline.
Around 5,500 Biobeads & 1,500 nurdles
Many more were present but a specific survey was used to compare the ratio between nurdles and Biobeads
Camber Sands, The Great Nurdle Hunt, Saturday 9th October
Sand, old and new strandlines.
1,350+ Biobeads & 450 nurdles
They are present all along the shoreline, deposited by the sea and blown by the wind, washed in and out depending on tides
All this data is part of the report that FIDRA delivered to COP26 earlier this month.
Here is a map of their nurdle hunts.
#TeamSeas Video
There are many entrepreneurs and innovators “out there” and whilst all believe they are a positive force in the current climate and waste crisis, this may not always be true.
This is a humorous video explains some of the “may not be so good” issues of a recent ocean focused marine plastic clear up project.
We may discuss this on the Strandliners FB page shortly.
One additional point which may supplement the video: we know 90% of ocean plastics get dispersed across the water column, and mostly fragmented into smaller bits (and finally microplastics). Even if cleanups were able to pick all plastics floating on the surface (and they get nowhere near that, we know) still they just scratch the surface of the problem.
Petition the International Maritime Organization
to Stop Plastic Pellet Pollution at Sea
After discovering many nurdles (pre-production plastic pellets) in our nurdle hunts, we always find nurdles, they have been lost in transit between oil refinery and item production since the 1950’s. Here is a message from The Great Nurdle Hunt:
“Dear Nurdle Hunters,
In May 2021, the MV X-Press Pearl spilt 1,680 tonnes of nurdles off the coast of Sri Lanka. It is the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history, and the single largest plastic pellet pollution event the world has ever seen.
We need your help. From November 22nd – November 25th, the International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection Committee will meet. On the agenda is a proposal from Sri Lanka to establish international guidelines and requirements for the transporting nurdles.
Nurdles are not currently considered to be persistent, hazardous, pollutants. Stricter classification under the International Maritime Organisation would mean nurdles are handled at sea similar to other harmful and hazardous substances.
This classification would mean stricter handling and labelling instructions are enforced, below deck stowage and sufficient disaster response protocols for any future shipping disasters.”
Once in the environment nurdles are almost impossible to clean up.
Cornwall’s Climate Stories
Living on the Edge looks at how Cornwall’s seaside communities are facing up to a future of sea level rise and coastal erosion. To watch Saturday 20th (from 10am) to Sunday 21st November (to 3.30pm), book through Eventbrite (donation required).
This 30-minute documentary is the third film in the Cornwall’s Climate Stories series, and is presented by passionate ultra-runner Emma Hazeldine. It follows her as she runs around the Cornish coast, discovering people and places that are starting to face the impacts of climate change.
Just a few of the stories covered in Living on the Edge include:
The escalating cost of maintaining the Cornish coast path, which is hugely important to Cornwall’s economy, attracting 2.5 million visitors each year
A community’s efforts to save a much-loved historic building by moving it brick by brick 100m away from a cliff edge
Plans to protect the low-lying towns of Mounts Bay with 1.3 million tonnes of sand
One town’s victory in efforts to stop developments from being built on the edge of its crumbling cliffs.
Free training available
Do you use the sea or visit the beach often?
Sewage related debris training through Clean Seas Please with Strandliners.
How to identify recently discharged plastic items & record in a new data recording process open for all to access.We are creating a database of interested people and planning events for beach users at Bexhill, St. Leonards, Hastings, Pett Level, Winchelsea Beach & Camber beaches. If interested please email strandlinerscic@gmail.com.
Thank you to everyone who has replied so far.
Buy Nothing Day
November 26th 2021
First organised in the North America in the early 90s
Is it still a thing?
Should it be a thing?
Should it make us think twice about options to buying?
Less buying could help reduce our waste.
Why not support a “Library of Things” – there may be one close to you?
Back in 2000 a U.S TV network wouldn’t run a commercial telling people not to buy anything because, “This commercial is in opposition to the current economic policy of the United States“.
Strandliners is very grateful for the funding of survey and safety equipment by Rother District Council, The Sussex Community Foundation through the The Rye Fund and Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm for the use by volunteers at our events. We have also produced safety leaflets to ensure the participants can keep safe whilst clearing. And we are also now able to attend conferences and exhibitions with our new marketing materials and display equipment.
Without this support is would have been difficult to keep the vital work continuing, raising awareness, educating and supporting other organisations with the data needed to help lobby for change and a less polluted environment.
Strandliners also received support from Fairlight Parish Council in their operations to help clear the area at Fairlight Cove with the help of the local community and Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat. A presentation is being prepared for all involved!