Hiding In Plain Sight

Not only are containers of rubber ducks being lost in the high seas, but huge shipping containers of floating athletic shoes and other debris that pollute the oceans. The up side of this pollution dilemma is that scientists are able to study the movement of ocean currents based on the travels of this objects. If you find any odd piece of debris at the beach, contact an oceanographer.

clipped from www.cbsnews.com For more than 11 years now, oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer has been learning about movement on the ocean by tracking the travels of thousands of bathtub toys, reports CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone. "It's amazing what a duck can teach you," Ebbesmeyer says. "There was one container load of turtles, ducks, beavers and frogs, twenty-nine thousand in a single container that went overboard in the middle of the Pacific," he says. The small, plastic adventurers were accidentally dumped into the ocean in January 1992. Pushed by winds and currents the ducks were carried to Alaska where thousands washed ashore. Ebbesmeyer has faith that there are numerous ducks waiting to be found along the East Coast, though none have yet been recovered. First Years is offering a $100 reward to anyone who finds one of the well-traveled bath toys. "It's really a critical piece of scientific data," Hollywood says.