Jenna Uzdarwin. 1/30/17. Animal Harm By Pollution: Jenna

When ever you go to the beach, do you ever think about what can happen to an animal and the water when you leave a wrapper in the sand or a plastic bottle in the water? If you think about it, even a small piece of plastic can harm a fish. The fish could mistake it for food. This could potentially kill the fish. There are other things that people d that pollutes the ocean. An oil spill from a boat can get fish sick (Doc.2). Also, solid waste, plastics, glass, and foam (OI). Marine life can get trapped in any of these items (OI). There are many things we can do to prevent this, like, reducing plastic waste in stream, improve solid waste management, and increase, capture, and reuse (Doc.1). These are just a few of the many things we could do to

The problem with plastic ending up in the ocean is that marine life is being harmed by the presence of it. A study done on the harbor seals in the Netherlands found that more than 12% had plastic in the digestive system (California Coastal Commission). The list of affected species indicates that marine debris is affecting a significant number of species. It affects at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species (Save our shores). The problem is underestimated because the marine life that ingests plastic or dies from entanglement often goes undiscovered due to the vastness of the ocean, as they either sink or are eaten by predators before they are discovered (Plastic Debris). The potential harm from ingestion of plastics is not restricted to seabirds. Plastic bags drifting on ocean currents resemble the prey of turtles. There is evidence that their survival is being hindered by plastic debris with young sea turtles being vulnerable (Ocean pollution). Over the past 20 years polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have polluted marine food webs at an increasing rate, and are prevalent in seabirds. Though their adverse effects may not always be apparent, PCBs lead to reproductive disorders, increase the risk of disease and alter hormone levels. These chemicals have a detrimental effect on marine organisms even at very low levels and plastic pellets could be a route for PCBs into marine food

In the article, "Plastic in Our Oceans", Kimberly Amaral discusses the everyday uses of plastic and how it can be beneficial to humans, but harmful to marine life. As fishermen casually dump waste overboard, animals mistake it for food sources, such as a turtle mistaking a plastic grocery bag for a jellyfish. From the trash brought out to sea, gyres, large circulations of water, carry the garbage through currents, spreading it to all over the ocean, specifically to the central gyre. Amaral notes common ways for marine life to die from plastic, which include entanglement by plastic rings, consumption of plastic bags and pellets which stuff the intestines and lead to health problems, and suffocation. As researchers today work hard to discover

Over the few years, humans have discarded millions of tons of garbage into the oceans. Ever wonder where the cup you threw out this morning will end up? Or the plastic spoon you used for lunch? How about the cap of a water bottle? The calamitous plastic ends up in the water, taking thousands of years to decompose. The consumption of plastic by the marine life is perilous and the leading cause of death for life on shore.

Another major health risk that occurs when our oceans are being polluted is that the seafood becomes contaminated with chemicals. Chemicals are beginning to move up the food chain and soon into our plates. Research and studies show that plastic is absorbed by animals when it floats in waters and when these innocent fish and marine life ingest these foods it is endangering the marine ecosystem as a whole.

One of the issues that is currently harming the ocean is the presence of pollution. Studies have shown that over the past thirty years, people have increased their use of plastics and synthetic materials and recently it has become even more abundant (Laist). The amount of plastic debris that has entered the ocean is partially due to people 's inability to properly dispose of plastic and waste. This has immeasurable effects on the physical ecosystem, as well as the creatures who inhabit it. While plastic is very buoyant, it takes a very long time to degrade, and it is usually eaten by

“Around 260 million tons of plastic is produced every year, approximately 10% of this ends up in oceans. This litter is frequently consumed, often with fatal effects, by marine animals and birds who mistake it for food. The Trash Vortex of the Northern Pacific ocean is a patch the size of Texas consisting of trillions of pieces of decomposing plastic.” (Geer) Water pollution often directly correlates with other natural recourses that is being harmed by the same

One of the many kinds of pollution that exist is water pollution. Many threats and dangers to ocean species from pollution are found in the ocean. Plastic may be the largest threat to water pollution problems. Other problems may also result from oil spills, sewage spills, and trash. Plastic products pose the biggest water pollution problem. Items such as bottles and plastic bags that find their way into the ocean are often mistaken for food by hungry sea turtles, dolphins, whales and sea birds; killing the ocean animals by suffocation. Those plastics also contain toxic chemicals which can be dangerous posing a threat to all marine wildlife and also to humans.

Plastic harms the ocean and everything in it. National Geographic says that over eight-million tons of plastic are dumped onto the ocean every year. That means that over one-hundred million marine animals die from plastic debris every year. Humans are also getting hurt from plastic. Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently discovered that people that eat the average amount of seafood are eating up to eleven-thousand plastic fragments in their seafood each year. So next time you bite into a piece of fish think about the plastic you may also be eating. How would you feel if you couldn’t eat fish without getting sick? That’s what it could come to

Simple things like plastic rings, fishing nets, and fishing line snare and drown thousands of seals, sea lions, and dolphins each year, and while humans don’t notice, it seriously affects these marine animals (Hayden). Even though animals don’t die when they first ingest plastic, it makes it harder for them to consume other food that they need. In actuality, scientists found that, “Once plastics have been consumed, laboratory tests show that chemical additives and adsorbed pollutants and metals on their surface can desorb (leach out) and transfer into the guts and tissues of marine organisms” (Seltenrich). This just makes it harder for animals to eat, especially for the animals who need to feed their babies. Some of these animals starve to death; other ones that are nursing babies transfer

The trash barge in the ocean lets stuff fall off sometimes. That’s how fish get plastic in there stomach. So we should do something about it. We need to use thicker plastic bottles and cloth bags. That you don’t throw away.

“Plastic garbage, which decomposes very slowly, is often mistaken for food by marine animals. High concentrations of plastic material, particularly plastic bags, have been found blocking the breathing passages and stomachs of many marine species, including whales, dolphins, seals, and turtles” (World Wide Fund For Nature, 2017). Sea animals think that the floating plastic is food and they go to eat it, choke on it or get strangled by it. Since plastic is non-biodegradable it gets stuck in the animal’s throat and they choke on it or they swallow it and it messes with their stomachs. “Plastic kills fish, birds, marine mammals and sea turtles, destroys habitats and even affects animals’ mating rituals, which can have devastating consequences and can wipe out entire species” (Lonne, 2016). When fish, birds, marine mammals and sea turtles start to become extinct the life cycle of half of the marine life start to get out of control. Marine life does suffer but our beaches and oceans also become hazardous making them unable to use. “When you consider that this plastic does not biodegrade and remains in our ecosystem permanently, we are looking at an incredibly high volume of accumulated plastic trash that has been built up since mid-20th century” (Watson, 2006). Once, a plastic bottle is thrown into the ocean it stays in there forever until someone pulls it out or bigger animals swallow it.

We 're treating the oceans like a trash bin: around 80 percent of marine litter originates on land, and most of that is plastic. Plastic that pollutes our oceans and waterways has severe impacts on our environment and our economy. Seabirds, whales, sea turtles and other marine life are eating marine plastic pollution and dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Scientists are investigating the long-term impacts of toxic pollutants absorbed, transported, and consumed by fish and other marine life, including the potential effects on human health.

To begin with, plastic in the ocean hurts the animals within it. Humans are not the only inhabitants of the Earth. The animals inside the ocean pay for the consequences. What is failed to be seen is that every time humans abuse of what there is, they are hit just as bad. Humans dump the trash and animals have to adapt to it. However, “It has been only around 60 years since plastic came to be,” and it doesn’t give them animals much room to work with (“Measuring biodegradability”). An example of how animals are hurt by plastic is

Due to their regurgitation ability; most studies have focused on the ingestion of plastic pollution by bird, this does little harm to birds used in the studies. The effects of ingestible plastic on fish have not been studied as thoroughly and no studies have been conducted on filter-feeding organisms, which do not possess a feeding mechanism which would allow them to distinguish between plastic and plankton. Plastic pollution is only getting worse due to increasing population of developing countries. A wide variety of marine species is known to be harmed by plastic debris. This could threaten the survival of certain species, especially since many are sadly endangered by other types of anthropogenic actions.