It's not new that our oceans are full of garbage. While there are no current figures of exactly how much garbage is in there, the NAS estimated that around 14 billion pounds of garbage are added each year. Aside from just looking disgusting, all of this garbage poses a serious threat to wildlife, animals do get confuse it as food accidentally.
Earlier this year, a study was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin about the impacts of plastics entering whales' diets. As plastic cannot be digested, it sits in the stomach without being able to go anywhere. Eventually, the digestive tract becomes blocked. Not only is the whale unable to clear this blockage, but it is also unable to eat any real food as well. Thus, the researchers found that starvation ultimately kill the whale.
In March a 10-meter sperm whale was found dead on the coast of Spain. After the post-mortem, it was discovered that the whale’s stomach had over 17kgs of rope, and flower pots that had been discarded into the Mediterranean Sea.
A 2012 study showed that turtles often get confused with translucent materials that could resemble just like jellyfish. Much of this gets lodged in the turtle’s throat, causing it to die from suffocation.
Recently, the “impact of plastic” has been receiving a great deal of attention. There is an island known as the Midway Atoll. This is home to nearly three million birds, most of which are albatross. The birds on this island take to the sea to find food. Over 12% of the time, however, they find plastic instead.
Aside from just eating the garbage, marine waste put animals at risk through entanglement from old fishing lines and abandoned nets. Animals are in danger from being caught on things like 6-pack rings, which can cut off circulation or airways as the animal grows.
It is hard to estimate exactly how many animals are affected by plastic in the oceans each year, though some have put the number as high as 100,000. While some groups are experimenting with large-scale devices to reduce the amount of marine waste, there currently isn’t anything in place. Until this desperately-need a solution, it is on all of us to reduce the amount of waste generated so that it does not end up in the mouths or around the necks of ocean animals.
Save animals, save future.
-Vaibhav Dhawan
Earlier this year, a study was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin about the impacts of plastics entering whales' diets. As plastic cannot be digested, it sits in the stomach without being able to go anywhere. Eventually, the digestive tract becomes blocked. Not only is the whale unable to clear this blockage, but it is also unable to eat any real food as well. Thus, the researchers found that starvation ultimately kill the whale.
In March a 10-meter sperm whale was found dead on the coast of Spain. After the post-mortem, it was discovered that the whale’s stomach had over 17kgs of rope, and flower pots that had been discarded into the Mediterranean Sea.
A 2012 study showed that turtles often get confused with translucent materials that could resemble just like jellyfish. Much of this gets lodged in the turtle’s throat, causing it to die from suffocation.
Recently, the “impact of plastic” has been receiving a great deal of attention. There is an island known as the Midway Atoll. This is home to nearly three million birds, most of which are albatross. The birds on this island take to the sea to find food. Over 12% of the time, however, they find plastic instead.
Aside from just eating the garbage, marine waste put animals at risk through entanglement from old fishing lines and abandoned nets. Animals are in danger from being caught on things like 6-pack rings, which can cut off circulation or airways as the animal grows.
It is hard to estimate exactly how many animals are affected by plastic in the oceans each year, though some have put the number as high as 100,000. While some groups are experimenting with large-scale devices to reduce the amount of marine waste, there currently isn’t anything in place. Until this desperately-need a solution, it is on all of us to reduce the amount of waste generated so that it does not end up in the mouths or around the necks of ocean animals.
Save animals, save future.
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| A turtle entangled in a fishing net |
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| A seagull died due to plastic. |
-Vaibhav Dhawan
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