Save a Fishie is calling on fellow ocean lovers to join the Great Nurdle Hunt Campaign this October.
The team, together with the Cape West Girl Guides SA, will head to the beaches to hunt for nurdles – small lentil-sized pieces of plastic used to create virtually anything.
They’re widely used in plastic production, from plastic bottles to automobile parts. Nurdles are a microplastic because they are less than 5 mm in size. But even if they’re tiny, their damage is immeasurable.
Mistaken as food
The campaign, spearheaded by Save a Fishie’s Zoë Prinsloo, says they found nurdles on 41 out of the 111 beaches during their Coast to Coast Campaign.
The campaign, which took place in August, saw volunteers travel across country to clean beaches.
“They just keep washing up on our shores,” Prinsloo says.
Prinsloo says it’s an environmental crisis that often goes unnoticed.
“Due to mishandling and improper waste management, these tiny plastic particles are ending up in our oceans and washing up on our shores by the millions. We paid particular attention to nurdles during our Coast 2 Coast trip and managed to remove thousands,” she says.
The effect of these nurdles on ocean marine life is heart-wrenching, Prinsloo says.
“Nurdles, being mistaken as food by marine animals, are ingested with grave consequences. They not only clog the digestive system of marine species and cause internal injuries, but they also release harmful toxins into the food chain, threatening the health of entire ecosystems.”
The hunt is on
The Great Nurdle Hunt Campaign will take place the entire October (from 1 to 31 October).
How to hunt:
- Go to your local beach this October.
- Collect, count and record the nurdles you find.
- At the end of the month, send your results to your nearest Girl Guide unit or to the Save a Fishie shop in Paarden Eiland.
- All Girl Guide participants will receive a camp blanket badge.
For more information send an email to info@saveafishie.co.za
