[Coral-List] Fwd: [MarineDebris] Plastic Beach

[Axelle Jorcin]

Dear Coral-listers,

I thought this should reach as wide an audience as possible... 



Cheers,
Axelle



http://vimeo.com/46594524

Plastic Disaster - Hong Kong
by Gary Stokes PLUS 12 hours ago

The after effects of Typhoon Vincent are bringing in a deadly wave of pollution to the beaches of Hong Kong. Sacks of pre-production plastic pellets (nurdles) that were lost at sea are covering the coastlines of Hong Kong with this deadly material. Gary Stokes of Sea Shepherd and Tracey Read of DB Green are working to mobilise the Hong Kong Government and people to remove this threat to our marine life.


> From: "Fabiano.Barretto at globalgarbage.org" <Fabiano.Barretto at globalgarbage.org>
> Date: 30 July 2012 22:14:05 GMT+08:00
> To: MarineDebris at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [MarineDebris] Plastic Beach
> 
> http://www.garystokesphotography.com/blog/?p=1208
> 
> After the recent Typhoon 10 that hit Hong Kong a few days ago, a grim discovery was made by Tracey Read on Discovery Bay’s North Beach. A total of thirty 25kg sacks of Pre Processed Plastic [Raw Plastic in small pellet form also known as Nurdles] was found washed up on the beach. Sadly 11 of the sacks were empty and their contents now lay strewn across the beach. Plastic is one of the largest pollutants in the worlds oceans today. These small translucent balls look very similar to fish eggs and because of this they are consumed by fish and seabirds. The Nurdles absorb all pollutants before they are ingested, passing these toxins onto the host. Once in the food chain, plastic then works it’s way up the food chain and eventually ends up on the human dinner table.
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.garystokesphotography.com/blog/?p=1245
> 
> Well the day started off with research into Sinopec Petroleum. Their websites “CONTACT US” page is blank, and after trying to speak with them, both Tracey and I were hung up on! Not quite the Social Responsibility that they so heavily promote on their website. After several more call to the local media we had a meeting with Hong Kong Resorts City Management. Though the beach is a Government Beach and not really their responsibility to clean, Mr Kenneth Chan [Senior Estate Manager] offered a cleanup team for an hour to remove the full SINOPEC bags that were on the beach (19) and see what they could do with some of the higher concentrated polluted areas.
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> http://www.garystokesphotography.com/blog/?p=1255
> 
> Rain didn’t stop play, as we trudged back out over the rocks to meet with Team Grey of the FEHD dept. They arrived with a boat and removed the 170+ bags (approx 80 full) from the rocks. The most amazing ladies, over 70 years old and stronger than an ox, they had away with the 25kg sack in no time over very slippery rocks even with a full Tropical Rainstorm Warning in effect. Great job FEHD!
> 
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