When a veteran beach clean-up expert noticed a bloom of yellow plastic tubing along Outer Cape strands, she began to ask questions.

“I had never seen it before,” said Laura Ludwig, manager of the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Debris and Plastics Program. “Where was it coming from?”

Thus began a journey to unravel the stringy mystery. Ludwig first encountered the tubing in September 2021 at Long Point in Provincetown during a beach clean-up. During the days that followed, more of the plastic was picked off beaches in Outer Cape towns.

“It was mind-blowing how much of the stuff there was,” she said in a recent phone interview.

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The yellow tubing has a thin rope-like appearance, and continues to wash up on Cape Cod beaches in varying lengths, from very short (1 millimeter) to 90 feet. Ludwig said it has been found on beaches in Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Orleans, Brewster and Yarmouth. It has also been found on beaches in Hull, Scituate and beyond.

“I found a piece in Newport, Rhode Island last week,” said Ludwig.

Read more: Cape Cod Times