Mysterious plastic on Cape Ray beach is actually seagrass
At first glance the heaps of material that washed up on a Cape Ray beach on a recent weekend looked like shredded plastic. It’s actually not plastic at all, and essentially harmless.
“That’s a type of seagrass,” says Mark Lomond of the Port aux Basques chapter of Delta Waterfowl.
Lomond spends a lot of time on the water.
“I was picking it up and looking at it as it all started washing ashore. It was in different stages of bleaching from the sun. Some strings were still dark, and there were even balls of it bleached white on top and brown on bottom.”
This seagrass closely resembles a lightweight shredded plastic once it dries.
“It’s easy to take apart,” says Paul Taverner, picking up another handful.
Taverner’s cabin is across a small dirt road from the tiny beach where vast quantities of the seagrass washed up. Initially he mistook the seagrass to be some kind of shredded plastic, as did some others on local social media platforms.
Taverner patrols the sandy beach regularly to pick up garbage such as beef buckets or plastic motor oil containers.
He was worried, initially, when he noticed the large clumps of plastic-like strands that had
washed ashore. He wondered if it might negatively affect shore birds or other sea life.
He was relieved to find out it was naturally occurring seagrass.
He says for the most part the beach is left in relatively good condition by those who use it.
“I had to put a sign up one year because people would come down here and leave their garbage behind,” he says.
Taverner says the number of tourists discovering the beach has increased this year, thanks
to the stunning mountain views and easy access. He’s even put out his own plastic lawn chairs for people to relax and admire the view, and the beach has also become increasingly popular as a spot for wedding photos.
Cape Ray is a local service district, served by a volunteer board.
MHA Andrew Parsons, who is minister for the Department of Municipal Affairs and the Environment, says when something out of the ordinary occurs communities should contact his
department.
“It’s no different than sometimes where you get unusual scenarios like a whale washing up on the beach. The department will always work with communities to figure out solutions,” he says.
Illegal dumping would normally fall to the community to deal with, but unexpected scenarios can present an extra challenge for areas working with limited resources.
“You have no idea what it is or where it’s from, so yes, the first thing you’ve got to do is work with the department to figure out what happened and what can be done,” says Parsons.
He says the government can help offer different solutions to communities that face an unexpected or unknown scenario, regardless of the size of the affected area.
As for the seagrass, most of it has been taken care of by the same wind and water that dumped it on the beach in the first place.
Locals also subsequently reported the same type of seaweed had washed ashore on beaches in Grand Bay West, Isle aux Morts, Burnt Islands and the Codroy Valley.
Lomond says it’s nothing to worry about, though he doesn’t really know why there’s so much of it right now, but the large amount is a good sign.
“We get it all the time, but there’s significantly more of it around this time of year,” he says.
“Lots of seagrass equals lots of baby cod.”
Seagrass is essential for the development of juvenile fish such as Atlantic cod. To find out more about its importance to a Ósustainable fishery and ongoing efforts to preserve these coastal habitats, visit: https:// theecologist.org/2014/nov/04/ love-cod-lets-save-our-disappearing-seagrass.