The Effect of Plastic Waste on Marine Life

XXXXX XXXXXX (Department of Geography and Planning)

Table 1: Evidence of Impacts Figure 2: Summary of reports on ingestion

and entanglement

Animal Encounter Plastic Type Major and Minor Effect

400

Manatees Entanglement Plastic bags Death 350

300

Grey seals Entanglement Fishing nets Constriction

250

Sea Turtles Entanglement Fishing nets Death

200

150

Fur seals Entanglement Nets, packing bands Death, reduced population size

100

Sea birds Entanglement Plastics, fishing line Death 50

0

Whales Entanglement Plastic line Dermal wounds

Introduction s h s s s h s s

• E yen av ri sro .nmental concern for plastic has increased over the

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• Global production of plastics increased from 5 to 280 million

Sea birds Ingestion

Plastic particles

Gastric rupture, death

n ira n ira

tonnes between 1960 and 2016. M M

• Land and ocean based activities produces more waste; with

Manatees Ingestion Plastic bags, Death Liest(1997) Gall & Thompson

domestic, industrial and fishing activities being the major

contributors. Penguins Ingestion Plastic fishing gear Perforated gut, death Total number of species with either entanglement or

• Disposed bottles, bags, food containers and straws make ingestion records

their way into the ocean through channels like rain, river, Fish Ingestion Micro plastics Intestinal Blockage Number of species with ingestion records

wind and sewage system. Number of species with entanglement records

Sperm Whales Ingestion Plastics, fishing gears Gastric rupture, death

• Every year, about 8 million tonnes pf plastics leak into the

ocean.

• Plastics are resistant to degradation, but can break up into

Conclusion

tiny particles (micro plastics) over shorter period and settle

on sea beds. Plastics pose grave danger to sea life. Their presence in marine environment

• Contact and ingestion cause harm. results to extinction and reduced population. Fig.1 shows that there is a high

• To curb this global problem, agreements such as the London mortality rate from both entanglement and ingestion; with more reports of

Protocol (1996-2016) were made. species with entangled records (Fig. 2). Sea bird were most affected.

References

Boris, W. (2017) Plastics as a Persistent Marine Pollutant. Annual Review of Environment and Resource, Vol. 42, pp.1-26.(Accessed: 5thNovember).

Gall, S. and Thompson, R. (2015) the impact of debris on marine life, Marine Pollution Bulletin.Volume: 92, Issue 1-2, Pp 170-179. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.041.Database:ScienceDirect. (Accessed: 26/11/18).

Gallo, F. et al (2018) Marine litter plastics and microplasticsand their toxic chemicals components: the need for urgent preventive measures, Environmental Sciences Europe, Vol 30, Issue 1, Pp 1-14. (Accessed: 3rdNovember, 2018

Law, K. (2017) Plastics in the Marine Environment, Annual Review of Marine Science,Volume: 9, Issue 1, ISSN: 1941-1405. Available at: www.annualreviews.org. (Accessed: 11/27/18)

Li, W. (2016) Plastic Waste in the Marine Environment: A Review of Sources, Occurrence and Effects, Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 566-567, P. 333-349, ElsavierB.V, Database.

Plastics-The Fact (2018) PlasticEurope[Online] Available at: www.plasticeurope.org. Accessed: 4thNovember, 2018.