Plastic ‘Nurdles’ Washed Up After Ship Collision

Tiny plastic pellets found washed up on England’s east coast are likely to have come from a collision involving a tanker and a cargo ship a week ago, the coastguard has said.

The Stena Immaculate and cargo ship Solong collided in the North Sea, off East Yorkshire, on Monday, triggering an explosion and fires.

Chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said they were told on Sunday there had been a sighting in waters off the Wash of a “sheen that we now know to be plastic nurdles” and a team was clearing them.

Nurdles are balls of plastic resin used in plastics production. They are not toxic but can present a risk to wildlife if ingested, according to Coastguard.
One crew member of the Solong is missing and presumed dead. The captain of the cargo vessel has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.

Mr O’Callaghan said aerial surveillance had confirmed the presence of the nurdles in the water and some on the shore between Old Hunstanton and Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk.

Retrieval had started, with specialist counter-pollution teams sent to help, he added.

Calum Duncan, head of policy and advocacy at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “We’re deeply concerned about nurdles washing up along the Wash, a vital internationally important protected area for birds like waders, wildfowl, gulls and terns.”

He said the pellets posed “a significant threat to marine life”.

“Fish and seabirds could mistake them for food, leading to starvation and serious health issues,” said Mr Duncan.

The Wash, where pellets have been spotted, is a large inlet of the North Sea which stretches from just south of Skegness, in Lincolnshire, to a point near Hunstanton, in Norfolk.

In a joint statement, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Norfolk Wildlife Trust said they were “very concerned” about the pollution.

“Unfortunately, the risks posed by nurdles increase when other pollutants become stuck to them,” Tammy Smalley, of the Lincolnshire trust, said.

We urge members of the public to report nurdle sightings but to avoid touching them as they may have toxic pollutants stuck to them.”

BBC