The 2024 Strandloper Project is done and dusted! A team of hikers tackled over 200kms of shorelines in a massive research effort to get to the bottom of plastic problems, information that helps communities push for more support that’s desperately needed in the fight to protect our oceans.
Western Cape, South Africa (06 November 2024) — Over 12 days, a team of hikers united to tackle a serious stretch of shoreline in a massive research and anti-pollution effort known as The Strandloper Project.
An effort that’s been going on since 2018, The Strandloper Project started when concerned locals in the Garden Route undertook a reef cleanup regarding snagged fishing tackle. They realised that they needed to understand the source of the plastic pollution problems better to make a more sustainable impact. By 2019, the coastal expeditions had begun.
The 2024 Strandloper Project took place over 12 days in October with six hikers and a backup driver on a mission along the shoreline from Pringle Bay to Struisbaai—228 km.
The team (Mark Dixon, Chris Leggat, Jonothan Britton, Mandy Pelse, Liz Bazin, Ariadne Van Zanbergen and backup driver Nick Leggat) were united under a common goal—to document all the plastic and fishing debris along the way in an effort to discover their sources. They used a bouquet of five survey methods to categorise the types of plastic, determine their density and distribution along the shoreline and, of course, identify their sources while comparing this year’s expedition to previous ones to investigate improvement or lack thereof.
This is a hugely important effort because not only does it provide environmental organisations with evidence for matters like local support against pollution, but it also helps us understand which products are the biggest problems and which communities need to be focused on when it comes to environmental education and responsible waste management resources.
This October, the team made many discoveries and collected over 13,000 records of washed-up ocean plastic waste by day 11.
Some interesting points of the Strandloper Project 2024 expedition included:
A Not-so-Liddle Problem
Plastic lids were the most common item discovered. They were followed by other hard plastics like sucker sticks, cigarette lighters and earbud shafts.
Bags and Wrappers Galore
Crisp packets, sweet wrappers, shopping bags and food packaging were all top-ranking for the soft plastics.
Condom Conundrum
Abalone poaching is a serious issue, and the condoms found point to this. Abalone (which is a valuable mollusc) live in the Kelp Forest until they are poached and exported.
Poachers use condoms to protect their phones while diving, remaining in comms with the team on shore.
Microplastic is a Big Concern
The teams shared that microplastics can range from a few pieces per meter to >300 pieces per meter!
On the recent expedition, blue, green, and purple pieces had the highest numbers compared to previous years, when white and grey pieces were used.
Oystercatchers on the Rise
In some good news, oystercatchers were said to be on the rise. Beyond the plastic hunt, the Strandloper Project hikers also investigate marine fauna numbers. This year, the oystercatcher count had increased by 6.4% in comparison to 2021 for the section of shoreline between Struisbaai and Grotto Beach.
Entangled Kelp Forests
The explored section of the coastline ranks as the highest density of monofilament along the 1050km of Coastline surveyed in total between Pringle Bay and Cape Recife.
Snagging in kelp stipes, the lost recreational terminal tackle poses both entanglement and ghost fishing threats to marine birds and fish, respectively. When the monofilament disintegrates from UV exposure, it still remains in the marine ecosystem as microplastics.
“Analyses of our expedition data over the past six years show that the bulk of ocean plastic waste originates from terrestrial sources,” the team shared.
“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. For our future, we desperately need a paradigm shift to utilise plastic waste as a resource and to commoditize the collection and upstream processes that will end the current status qup of single use white noise.”
You can learn more about the Strandloper Project here.
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