Nurdles in the sea – Nim Shue Wan, Lantau, Hong Kong on 31 July 2012

Loose Nurdles from broken bags from the Typhoon Vicente Nurdle spill are forming in debris patches in the sea, such as this patch which formed along the shoreline at the high tide at Nim Shue Wan, Lantau, Hong Kong on 31 July 2012. Some of these Nurdles will be re-deposited along the shoreline as the tide recedes, whilst others will be swept out to sea.

Plastic Nurdle spill – Hong Kong 23 July 2012.

Typhoon Vicente hit Hong Kong on the evening of 23 July 2012 and was categorized as a Tropical Cyclone Signal 10 (Hurricane force winds). The typhoon made landfall on 24 July 2012. It was the worst typhoon to hit Hong Kong since 1999.

During the course of the typhoon, a container ship in waters to the east of Hong Kong lost 7 x 40 foot containers. Six of these containers were each loaded with 1000 x 25 kilogram bags of plastic Nurdles. Four of these containers have since been located in Hong Kong waters. One was intact, one was half empty and two were almost completely empty.

Intact bags and loose Nurdles from some of these containers started washing up on Hong Kong beaches soon afterwards. The following photographs show loose Nurdles on Sam Pak Wan beach, Lantau and in the sea at Nim Shue Wan, Lantau. The first photograph also shows some of the recovered bags.

Nurdles on Sam Pak Wan beach, 25 July 2012

Nurdles on Sam Pak Wan beach, 30 July 2012

Nurdles in the sea at Nim Shue Wan, 29 July 2012

Nurdles in the sea at Nim Shue Wan, 30 July 2012

Tachypleus tridentatus. Ha Pak Nai, Hong Kong on 7 July 2012.

The following photographs show the foraging trails of juvenile Tachypleus tridentatus (Chinese horseshoe crab) on the seagrass beds/inter-tidal mudflat at Ha Pak Nai, Deep Bay, Hong Kong on 7 July 2012. The tide had just started to recede and all of these trails are made on the damp suface of the substrate:

Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. Tung Chung, Hong Kong on 3 July 2012.

The following photographs are of one foraging juvenile and two mating pairs of  Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda (Mangrove horseshoe crab) photographed in a stream at Tung Chung, Lantau, Hong Kong on 3 July 2012: