\u201cCome and have a look at this,\u201d called Jonathan Britton, as the surf pulled back from the sloped pebble beach near Suiderstrand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was standing next to a postbox-red plastic kayak, its bow buckled and split, with goose barnacles sprouting from the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed out a sticker of an adventure company based at Storm\u2019s River Mouth in the beverage holder. Chris Leggatt messaged the owner of the adventure company, asking when the kayak had been lost. Minutes later, the response came through, \u201cWashed out to sea on the 10th of August\u201d. In fewer than 10 weeks, the kayak had drifted over 400 km to wash up west of Suiderstrand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonathan and Chris were part of the Strandloper Project, a coastal research expedition aimed at surveying for plastic pollution, washed-up fishing gear, marine fauna and African Black Oystercatchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, the team of six hikers \u2013 Mark Dixon (expedition leader), Chris Leggatt, Jonathan Britton, Mandy Pelser, Liz Bazin, Ariadne Van Zanbergen \u2013 supported by their back-up driver Nick Leggatt, hiked from Pringle Bay to Struisbaai, a distance of about 220 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discovery of the kayak was made on the eleventh day of the expedition. By then the team had already collected over 13 000 pieces of washed up ocean plastic waste ranging from hard plastics \u2013 such as toothbrushes, buckets and crates \u2013 to soft plastic like bread and shopping bags and condoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Dixon, the expedition leader, explained that they used five survey methods to categorise types of plastics and determine their density and distribution along the shoreline with the objective of determining the source of plastic pollution and where it flows into the ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome sandy bays had a slick of microplastics, broken-down pieces from a multitude of plastic containers and nurdles, the raw material used to manufacture every plastic item that we use on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 12 days, we had completed 228 km of hiking along the shoreline from Pringle Bay to Struisbaai, documenting all the plastic and fishing debris that we could,\u201d he stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The range of items suggested that the bulk of plastic washing up on the beaches originates from land-based urban settlements and that it flows into the ocean through municipal infrastructure and gets flushed from rivers during flood pulses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDensity, shape and size of items, driven by winds and currents influence how far certain types of plastic drift and ultimately where it washes out. Along the section of shoreline hiked during this expedition, most of the plastic was recorded on the western facing shoreline, with lower densities recorded on the eastern facing sections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that during their 2022 expedition from Arniston to Hermanus, they recorded the highest density of monofilament of the four expeditions they had done at that stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAgain, this year, this 228 km section of the coastline ranks as the highest density of monofilament along 1 050 km of coastline that we have surveyed between Pringle Bay and Cape Recife. The lost recreational terminal tackle poses both an entanglement and ghost fishing threat to marine birds and fish respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some items that had drifted even further than the kayak, were a selection of medical packaging and small packets of snacks from containers lost at sea during a storm offshore of East London. By the time they started washing ashore near Pearly Beach in the second week of October, they had drifted over 840 km. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to surveying plastic and fishing gear, the team also used the opportunity to survey marine fauna on their expeditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA species that we have collected valuable data on are the African Black Oystercatchers. This year, the total number of oystercatchers that we recorded was 1 204. In comparison with our 2021 expedition data for oystercatchers, it was encouraging to record an overall increase of 6,4% in numbers for the section of shoreline between Struisbaai and Grotto Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark stated: \u201cAnalyses of our expedition data over the past six years show that the bulk of ocean plastic waste originates from terrestrial sources. To stem the flow of plastic into the ocean is going to take a modification in how we, both municipalities and society, manage our plastic waste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor our future, we desperately need a paradigm shift to utilise plastic waste as a resource and to commoditise the collection and upstream processes that will end the current status quo of single use white noise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information you can visit www.strandloperproject.org or email expedition leader Mark Dixon on ghostfishing@strandloperproject.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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