GEORGE NEWS - The Strandloper Project team is preparing for its eighth annual coastal research expedition, which will see volunteers hiking about 150km from Wilderness to Nature's Valley over nine days.

The expedition starts on Wednesday 7 October and ends on Thursday 15 October, covering a challenging mix of sandy beaches and rocky shoreline.

According to founder Mark Dixon, the team has three primary objectives: to document the density and distribution of ocean plastic and washed-up fishing gear; to record indicator marine species such as African black oystercatchers; and to document incidents involving diseased or injured marine fauna, including seals and seabirds.

"We will be using our expedition programme in CyberTracker to record georeferenced data from our surveys. For plastic pollution, we conduct a Trashy20 survey every 5km and mini transects in between. The Trashy20 transect is a series of three 10m x 2m transects at the high-water mark," says Dixon.

Plastic and fishing gear are categorised, while microplastics are separated by primary colour and counted.

This year's expedition is particularly significant because this route had previously been surveyed in 2020, and this will allow the team to compare changes over time. A special focus will be placed on nurdles - small plastic pellets used as raw material in manufacturing. 

The continued presence of different nurdle types suggests that plastic pellet pollution may be an ongoing source of contamination along the coastline.

The expedition follows an eventful year for the Southern Cape coastline, including severe storms, unusual marine wildlife sightings, and large quantities of sediment and plastic pollution washing into the ocean.

The public can follow the team's progress and daily findings on the Strandloper Project's Facebook and Instagram pages. 

More information about the expedition and how to assist is available on the Strandloper Project website.

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