By: Alina Marzook From the pattering of rain to the scuttling of crabs over a coral reef, sound travels fast and far underwater, acting as an important sensory cue for marine mammals and invertebrates. These
By: Alina Marzook On May 24th, 2025, the container ship MSC ELSA 3 capsized off Kerala’s coast. Of the 643 containers onboard, 60 carried plastic nurdles, which have since contributed to an unfolding ecological and
By: Thusitha Bulathgama Do you ever imagine farms of the future located beneath the ocean rather than on land? Underwater gardens are becoming a new frontier explored by scientists and innovators as global food systems
By: Dilshani Maralanda It was a lovely sunny morning; I was strolling along the beach when I spotted something unusual. I went closer to check what it was, and I realized that it was the
By: Thusitha Bulathgama Throughout history, Sri Lanka’s coastline has been protected from storms, pirates, and oil spills. But in recent years, a new and silent threat has emerged. Billions of tiny plastic pellets, known as
By Dilshani Maralanda
On a sunny morning, volunteers are strolling along the beach, not in search of seashells, but to collect handfuls of tiny white pellets. At first sight, they might look like little rice grains, but in reality, they are plastic nurdles. Thanks to the MSC Elsa 3 spill, which occurred on May 25, 2025, off the coast of Kerala, millions of nurdles have been washed into the waters and beaches of Sri Lanka.
By: Sara Sadoon
They may look harmless — small, round, almost like grains of rice — but nurdles are choking our oceans, threatening marine life, livelihoods, and even the food we eat. And we’re not paying nearly enough attention. Nurdles, the raw plastic pellets used to make everything from bottles to toys, are among the largest sources of microplastic pollution in the world. Their role in the plastic production chain is fundamental, but once these tiny pellets escape into the ocean, they become a slow-moving ecological disaster.
By Dilshani Maralanda When we slather on sunscreen before a day at the beach, we think about protecting our skin from harmful UV rays. But have you ever considered what happens to it once it
By Moira Alfred Between May and June 2021, the MV X-Press Pearl incident released over 1,680 tons of nurdles into Sri Lanka’s marine environment. This event is regarded as the largest single incident of marine plastic pollution in history, with
By Moira Alfred Nestled in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka’s stunning coastline faces severe marine pollution threats. The densely populated southern and western regions (home to 40% of the population) are particularly vulnerable due to
