Subjects
The subject of seeding is very controversial in the world of sea glass and sea glass hunting.
Basically it is the act of throwing glass back in the ocean or lake to leave it to be tumbled for future generations to enjoy and possibly find later on.

For the sake or argument this debate will be about actually making the effort to go out and dump glass for the sole purpose of it becoming sea glass at a future date.

We will do another on when you are on the beach, find a piece and send it back in because it wasn’t properly tumbled. Many will argue this is one and the same, but for now let’s talk about the deliberate seeding of glass.

AGAINST SEEDING:
I would like to open this debate with a quote from the great oceanographer Charles Moore: “Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest”.

Sea glass is such a beautiful thing. Coveted across the world for its beauty and rarity, history and intrigue, it can be easy to forget the ugly side of its origins.
For the last few centuries, humankind has treated the ocean (and world) as some kind of possession, of which we are the masters. This sense of ownership and ignorance of the environment around us has lead society to make some hefty (and near irrevocable) mistakes. For too many years – and still in some places – we have used our oceans, seas, lakes, lochs, fjords, streams and rivers as big old trash cans.

It wasn’t until the mid 19th century that humanity began to consider addressing the issue of ocean dumping and began to bring in laws surrounding marine protection.
Sea glass is a product of our predecessors mistakes. Sea glass exists because our ancestors believed it was OK to dump thousands of kilograms of waste into our oceans and waterways. Sea glass exists because of the pollution of humans.

Seeding – the practice of putting fresh or “birth glass” on the beach or into the water is Littering. It is pollution. To quote the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) ” it is a criminal offense for a person to drop, throw down, leave or deposit litter in a public place”. Therefore, seeding is not only morally questionable, it is illegal.

I have heard people who speak of leaving sea glass for future generations. I understand their want to pass on this art form and the sentiment. I really do, I have a daughter. How ever, to speak of it as art and beauty is to directly ignore it’s origins.

On top of this, for many people, the draw and allure of sea glass lies around the history and mystery of finding a piece of bottle cast over the side of a ship in the time of pirates, the thought of finding a antique perfume stopper cast into the ocean by an angry lover or a piece of ceramic from a rare China plate accidentally thrown into and ocean dump.

Seeding makes finding these pieces of history inauthentic. It also makes finds confusing to identify – I have started to find and see many vase fillers (flat marbles) appearing on beaches or online. These are a modern invention. Also, I can assure you that not everyone will stop throwing their rubbish into the ocean, no matter how many laws are put in, therefore there will always be sea glass without our intervention, it will just fortunately become rarer.

It also widely cheapens the market. I have seen shops selling bags of seeding glass which contain mammoth red and blue pieces of glass. As an artist in the sea glass trade, I can say it boils my blood to think of the hours of back breaking effort I’ve put in to finding pieces of red sea glass, a true rarity. It cheapens the market too, as it is flooded with fake and inauthentic glass. I’ve even heard of people chucking in bags of marbles. Finding a frosted marble is a true joy, an extreme pleasure. It’s pleasurable because of its rarity and its uniqueness. To seed is to cheapen that experience completely. Would you feel this same joy knowing that someone down the road had thrown 300 marbles into the ocean last year?

Lastly, not everyone uses soft glass to seed. I have read stories of people dumping bottles off shore or throwing glass into the sea in the hopes that it will wash up frosted. Now I study the ocean for a living. This is a danger to ocean life. This is a danger to the mammals and fish and molluscs and birds. Glass is sharp. Glass cuts. Even glass softened edges can break. Glass washes ashore. Glass is then also a danger to humans, pets, children. It takes years and the right conditions for sea glass to become “cooked”. It is completely irresponsible and selfish, and although not everyone puts unsoftened glass in, I cannot stress enough that glass smashes.

Let us move forward from the ignorance of our ancestors and as thalassophiles, let us all unite together to keep the coasts of the future litter free and that starts with agreeing to stop turning a blind eye to the environmental impacts of Littering or “seeding”. I cannot stress enough the importance of protecting the marine environment in a world where we rely on the ocean to breathe oxygen. Every action has a reaction.

I’d like to close with a quote from Sir David Attenborough, 2016: “It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides not just a home for us, but for all life on earth”
Ami Bairden