Plastic Pollution And Its Effects On Marine Life

It has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Plastic debris, laced with chemicals is often ingested by marine animals and can injure or poison wildlife. Cattle and other animals are ingesting it, a substance that doesn’t break down, piling up within them. Thousands of marine mammals are killed after ingesting plastic mistaking it for food or getting caught in it. The marine animals mainly affected are: sea turtles, ingesting plastic; seals and sea lions, entangled in packaging; seabirds like the Laysan albatross, ingesting plastic; fish, consume and breath plastic; also whales and dolphins, consume 31% of the marine plastic

Innocent animals die each year due to pollution of waters and beaches. Lots of people have seen the picture of the turtle trapped in plastic. That is truly unbearable. Sea turtles mistake plastic for food. About 52% of the sea turtle population ate some form of plastic. Another shows that about 90% of sea birds ate some form of plastic. Thats a lot of animals! Plastics are not only killing the large animals, the microplastics are killing Zooplankton. Zooplankton also mistake microplastics for food. When an oil spill is caused it changes the health of sea animals

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

Sea life can mistake plastic, inedible, objects for food. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jelly fish, which is one of their favorite foods, and quickly die (Geographic). Resin pellets, which are used to make just about anything plastic, are often mistaken for food, especially due to the resemblance with fish eggs. Ingesting hard plastics can easily become lodged in an animal’s intestines or stomach and cause a slow and painful death. These marine animals do not know better than to eat what looks like food, it is not their responsibility to avoid the garbage.

In the article When the Mermaids Cry” The Great Plastic Tide by Claire Le Guern Lytle, she wrote “For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years” This means that more and more trash is added to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. Almost everything around us is made out of plastic, this is later misused and ending in the wrong place. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote “In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste.” Our plastic is misplaced and it escalates from there. However, plastic pollution hurts us as well. “Trash in the water compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;” wrote a non-profit group called Ocean Conservation. If our oceans are covered in trash, everyone that relies on the ocean is going to suffer. The effect is not just in our health, it also affects our economy. Ocean Conservation also

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

A group of researchers studied this at Rio de la Plata, a bay between Argentina and Uruguay. Using satellite telemetry from nine Chelonia mydas the researchers tagged and data on the concentration and distribution of marine waste (accounting only for plastics debris) they created a map displaying the overlapping areas of debris and Chelonia mydas foraging areas (González et al., 2014). The researchers report that the map depicts the average green turtle encountered 9 pieces of plastic every square kilometer of the overlapping areas of debris and foraging (González et al., 2014). Which led to Chelonia mydas accidentally ingesting copious amounts of debris, though death by consumption of plastic debris is rare, the ingestion of chemicals from plastic debris can hinder somatic growth and procreation turnout (González et al., 2014). To gain better understanding how much plastic debris was consumed due to their exposure, the research team examined 62 adolescent Chelonia mydas, 90 percent of the 62 turtles had eaten 13 pieces of plastic on average, 98 percent of it was found in the green turtle’s large intestines (González et al., 2014). While ingestion of plastic debris can have negative effects on the development and reproduction of Chelonia mydas, but two biggest

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.

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

Plastic. What is plastic doing to our planet is it helping it or is it killing it?Plastic is affecting our oceans. CNN say “plastic that was made one hundred years ago might still be around” it is affecting our planet but in a bad way plastic finds its way to our water and we drink that water we need to save our planet. In the end plastic is affecting our planet in one way or another it goes into our oceans it pollutes our water sea life ites it animals eat the plastic in our water. There should be a fee a fee on plastic bags because animals are dying plastic takes too long to decompose and our oceans are getting polluted it will also reduce how much amount of plastic we are using and will change our lifestyle for ever.

Discuss the cause and effect of plastic debris on seabirds? Marine population are vastly being endangered by all sorts of debris including plastic that found their way into waterways and the ocean. Seabirds have being found with entanglement around their legs and bills which affect their ability to protect themselves against predators (Ceccarelli, as cited in Australian Government Department Sustainability environment water population and communities, 2012, p. 3). Also Allen, Jarvis, Sayer and Mills remark plastic entanglement cause by fishing materials and other circle shape plastics may cause strangulation,, prevent the ability to feed themselves and even drowning (as cited in sigler, 2014). Plastic debris also crate problem with the feeding habits of seabirds, as they cannot define plastic from their normal food chain. Derraik observed that seabird diets has been affected by plastic as seabirds mistake coloured plastic debris from fish, fish eggs and larvae (as cited in Acampora, schuyler, Townsend & Hardesty, 2014, p. 1). Although as observed by

By polluting the ocean, plastic certainly makes harmful effect on flora and fauna. According to estimation of The United Nations Environment Program, plastic is a cause of death of 100,000 marine mammals and one million birds every year, including the albatross (Doucette, Kitt 2). Sea birds swallow plastic cigarette lighters, disposable forks, toothbrushes and bottle caps, mistaking them for fish. Turtles chew plastics bags instead of seaweed. Tiny fragments of plastic are the real threat to respiratory system of whales, dolphins and other sea animals.

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.

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.

First off, we need to look at how does plastic waste hurt organisms in oceans. For starters, the 5.25 trillions of plastic particles in the ocean has been spread out, acting as a small cover for the ocean (Eriksen-Reisser et al., 2014). With these particles being so small that we cannot see them with the naked eye, small marine organisms like zooplanktons consume these particles because the zooplanktons believe the particles are food (Tibbetts, 2015). As a result, zooplanktons become filled with more toxic substances than normal. As these zooplanktons get eaten, the