“By 2050, the weight of plastic in our oceans will outweigh the weight of the sea wildlife living in it.”
The proliferation of plastic products in the last 70 years or so has been extraordinary; quite simply we cannot now live without them. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use.
More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.
In the last 10 years, there has been a 90% decline of Sea Turtles due to plastic pollution.
The problem is multifaceted and complicated. We literally have plastic landmasses forming in the oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of three enormous plastic islands forming in our oceans. This is the obvious visible impact. The worse part is, these plastics don’t biodegrade, so they break up into tiny pieces that spread throughout all the oceans on our planet. Invisible to the eye, they are then consumed by fish and sea mammals.
As far as plastic entering the ocean, about 20% of the debris comes from ships and platforms that are offshore. The other 80% comes from litter being blown into the sea, picked up by tides on the beach, or deliberate rubbish dumping.
Hawksbill Sea Turtles are beautiful…
These amazing creatures feed almost exclusively on sponges, being able to push their long thin neck into cracks and crevises along coral reefs.Smaller than most turtles, mature adults can weigh up to 200 lbs and reach about 1 metre in length.
However, many turtles are killed by plastic debris. Often having plastic bags or fishing line in their stomachs, some as small as half of a fingernail, or even plastic straws lodged in their airways and throats.
Sea turtles are especially susceptible to the effects of consuming marine debris due to downward facing spines in their throats, making it impossible to regurgitate. The plastics get trapped in their stomach, preventing them from properly swallowing food. Eventually they starve to death.
We all love dolphins…
Their incredible jumping performances and friendly faces are hard to ignore and their unrivalled intelligence which has no equal. But possibly their most attractive feature is their desire to play games with people, dogs and most commonly, whales!
Sadly dolphin populations worldwide face significant threats from both chemical pollution and marine debris. Beyond physically ingesting plastic waste, chemical pollution is causing major damage to dolphins and other marine life.
Toxins entering the ocean from industrial dumping, sewage, marine accidents and runoff poison dolphins (and other sea creatures) directly, cause indirect damage to dolphin immune and reproductive systems and destroy marine habitats that sustain their food supply.
Whales are awe inspiring
Whales come in many shapes and sizes, but the Blue Whale is the largest animal to have ever lived on our planet; even larger than the dinosaurs.Awe inspiring, mesmerizing and terrifyingly wonderful, to put it in perspective, the heart of a blue whale is the same size as a VW Beetle….gulp!
Like many marine animals, whales often mistake marine debris for food. Whale mouths can be huge and can literally hoover up vast quantities of plastic and other waste. This then leads to obstructions within the digestive system, ultimately leading to starvation or puncturing of the internal organs.
Cataceans are ingesting plastic debris at a rate of 31 percent. This is a frightening rate and we must take notice.
We, as a human race, are responsible for the current state of our oceans.
Something as small as 1 single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to break down in the environment. Everybody can help, so do your part and take small steps which in turn, can make a big difference.