THE problem of marine debris does not necessarily start in the ocean, but further inland, before being washed down into the oceans. Statistics show that more than 59 per cent of rubbish collected from our oceans was from land sources. Each year there is a vast increase in the number of marine animals injured or killed found in the oceans. And now a recent study has concluded that 90 per cent of seabirds around the world have ingested plastic.
Researchers reached their conclusion after evaluating 186 seabird species across the globe. The areas where plastic pollution has had the greatest impact include southern parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Their results were published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recently. What is more, more than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269 000 tons, are floating in the world’s oceans, with micro-plastics being the leading cause of pollution in our oceans.
Northglen News recently spoke to Joan Porter, director of education at uShaka Marine World, to find out just how widespread the problem was.
‘What are micro-plastics?’
According to Porter, thousands of South Africans are unaware of how big the scale of the problem is. She said the deterioration of larger plastic fragments, from UV radiation, and other forces create micro-plastics. Another major contributor is the direct release of micro-plastics from scrubs and abrasives in household and personal care products into waterways via our sewers.
“Microplastics are small plastic particles in the environment that are generally between 1 and 5 mm. They can come from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing, and industrial processes. This is a worldwide phenomenon and at the moment, California are trying to get micro-plastics banned because of their harm to the environment.
“The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans. This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment,” she said.
Porter added that fishing lines, also leads to pollution because the chemical breakdown of them lead to micro-plastics. She said there had been a worldwide movement to start to recycle fishing line, to keep it out of the environment. With the amount of plastic waste in the ocean to increase, Porter said the figures may paint a picture of doom and gloom, but there were steps to take to help the environment.
“We have to start recycling. These pollutants get smaller, but they won’t go away and we can make a difference by recycling our plastic rubbish. Another item often overlooked as a major pollutant are earbuds, most people flush them down the toilet instead of putting them in the bin,” she said.
