Deadly plastic pellets continue to wash ashore Central Coast beaches

El Nino has brought some interesting visitors to the Central Coast, from tropical fish to tiny crabs. But now a new and unwelcome guest is showing up along out shores – Nurdles.

“Nurdles are actually pre-production plastic, so they are made primarily by chemical companies,” said Kathrine O’Dea, executive director of Save Our Shores.

O’Dea said the one to five-millimeter pieces of plastic are so small, they often get overlooked by beach goers. But to birds and fish the tiny plastic pellets look like dinner.

“That’s where the big problem is. They are dangerous to sea life and birds along the shore,” said O’Dea.

O’Dea said Save Our Shores staff first notices nurdles at the Pajaro Dunes earlier this year in Watsonville. Our cameras were there during a clean-up event with Scotts Valley High School.

“I saw different colored ones like this before but I never really knew what they actually were. I thought they were airsoft pellets,” said student Melanie Ortiz.

One month later, O’Dea said nurdles are showing up on beaches from Santa Cruz to Carmel. While she said they don’t know exactly where they are coming from, she has an idea.

“They probably fell off a container ship, a large container in transportation from one port to another or one country to another,” said O’Dea.

Officials with Save Our Shores are asking for help with this problem. If you find a nurdle, pick it up, take a picture and send it to their offices. Or post your findings on social media with the #Attackofthenurdles.