Solution To Plastic Pollution

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, "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

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

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

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

According to NOAA, “Scientists have found plastic fragments in literally hundreds of species including 86% of all sea turtles, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of marine mammal species” a. Sea turtles are dying because they try to eat plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish 2. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, sea turtles have a downward facing spine in their throats which makes it impossible for regurgitation. a. Therefore, plastics get stuck in their stomach preventing them from swallowing food properly.

Attention Getter: According to Tilley, K. (2013, August 26) More endangered sea turtles ingesting plastic, there are almost twice as many endangered green sea

Plastic is a huge problem to the Earth’s ecosystem, including to the marine wildlife of the oceans. It gets into our oceans in large quantities, and they pile up to a point they become an “island of plastic.” Some of which are estimated to be as big as a few million square miles, the biggest being in the Pacific ocean. This could result in environmental issues that could harm the ecosystems of the oceans. It would be eaten in small quantities by fish and by birds, which could cause many health problems that could lead to death. This is a problem that will only lead us to think more critically the waste we produce as humans. In only of a short time span of 35 years, was the oceans transformed into a landfill of plastic.

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

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.

We can find plastic bags, bottles, balloons, packaging materials, and even food wrappers that contribute to the debris. While large plastics are a major pollutant, over time these plastics break down into smaller and more toxic pieces. These small plastics more easily ingested and they also act as hosts for invasive species and carry them to other regions of the ocean more and more rapidly and increases the damages caused by plastics.¹ A new study found that more than 90 percent of 67 fulmars (a type of bird) had ingested plastics such as twine, Styrofoam, and candy wrappers. An average of 36.8 pieces of plastic was found per bird. On average, the fraction of a gram in each bird would equal to a human packing 10 quarters in his stomach, the scientists figure. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die each year from eating

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

Another marine animal that is suffering from litter in the ocean is Mae West, a turtle that is still alive, with a retainer ring around its body, but for most turtle, this would kill them. Furthermore, after taking some plankton samples, Moore found out that the sample contains more plastic than plankton (Moore). What this means is that the fishes at the base of the food chain were eating more than just plankton. To further support this in the video, Moore stated, “We did hundreds of necropsies, and over a third had polluted plastic fragments in their stomachs” (Moore). These are some of the thousand examples shown on how destructive littering has become towards animals that depend on the ocean by causing them harm and suffering.

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.

These seals often play with fragments of plastic netting or packing straps, and end up catching their necks in the webbing. The plastic harness can constrict the seal's movements, killing the seal through starvation, exhaustion, or infection from deep wounds caused by the tightening material. While diving for food, both seals and whales can get caught in transparent nets and drown. In the fall of 1982, a humpback whale was tangled in 50 to 100 feet of net and washed up on a Cape Cod beach. (Wohi, 1994) It was starving and its ribs were showing, the whale died within a couple of hours. Along Florida's coasts, brown pelicans diving for fish sometimes dive for the bait on a fisherman's line. Cutting the bird loose only makes the problem worse, as the pelican gets its wings and feet tangled in "Plastics in Our Oceans." Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1994): n.pag. Web. 28 Mar 2012.