Nurdles!
Have you heard of them?
They are also known as Mermaid Tears!
Over the last few months I have been researching the the Pacific Garbage Patch, so named when a skipper called Captain Moore made his way in 1997 through the Pacific High, an area of the calm air sailors usually avoid. The Pacific High is a column of high pressure around which the ocean current circulates in a clockwise direction. To go through it is the shortest distance from Hawaii to the mainland but sailors usually proceed north first to avoid being becalmed.
While passing through the calm waters, Captain Moore noticed debris on the surface of the water and also under the water. When publicizing his observations and the subsequent media attention the term Pacific Garbage Patch was first used. Captain Moore likens it more to plastic soup than a patch.
And this plastic soup is, in part, broken-down plastic products and, in part, Nurdles.
Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets the size of a lentil seeds that are produced by petrochemical companies to provide the basic building block for all plastic products. They are light weight and easily blown while being transported. Studies show that approximately 250,000 tons a year of nurdles make their way into the world's oceans where they make up 10% of all plastic pollutants.
What is insidious about the pellets is that they attract other toxins which attach themselves to the pellets. And what makes matters worse is that fish view them as food and consume them thus the toxins make their way into the food chain.
No wonder mermaids shed tears. These food imposters are also known as Poison Pills.
Some are calling for citizen scientists who will collect nurdles from beaches and the sea and record their location. Well, I guess I am going to enlist and do what I can to collect as I go and point out what I find to anyone who cares to listen.
I am a believer that we should each do what we can to solve problems and bring attention to problems. We each have a unique vantage point.
Mine will be from aboard SV Wahine. Ultimately, I am concerned that I do my part as, we are but stewards of this planet and our view must be long term not short term.
I want my grandson to look back from the 22nd century with his children and their children and know that his grandfather did what he could to act with courage, compassion and foresightedness.
Here are some resources to learn more about nurdles:
