Published 07:49 IST, December 14th 2020

Plastic bags, packaging material 'deadliest waste' for marine ecosystem: Study

Scientists have found that plastic bags and flexible plastic packaging material constitute the deadliest plastic waste that increases mortal risks in oceans

Science News
3 min read

Follow:

null | Image: self

As the global production and consumption of plastic continues in a worrying upward trend, a recent study has recognised some of the key plastic items that are a leading cause for the death of whales and other marine creatures, also threatening the oceanic ecosystem. Scientists have found that plastic bags and flexible plastic packaging material constitute the deadliest plastic waste that increases mortal risks of whales, dolphins, turtles, and seabirds in the oceans.

The solid waste "marine debris" is ingested by over 1,400 species, of which marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds are well represented, the study noted. It added that plastic debris ingestion was a leading cause of mortality among cetaceans, pinnipeds, sea turtles, and seabirds.

According to researchers and marine ecologists, this occurs due to "mistaken identity for food". The items mostly ingested by the marine megafauna includes plastic bags and balloons, followed by monofilament line and plastic utensils, the scientists found. The plastic items not only block their digestive systems but also pierces through their gut wall, causing severe injury that leads to death, according to the study.

Read: Highest Ever Level Of microplastics found On The Seafloor: Study

[Image Credit: Twitter/ Food Empowerment Project]

[Image Credit: Twitter/@Marymorty]

[Image Credit: Twitter/@MuseumofNature]

An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic are released into the oceans every year, which includes lethal items such as plastic bags sheets packaging, rope, fishing nets, fishing tackle and balloons, and latex.

Microplastics, though found to pollute the marine ecosystem in abundance, does not lead to the mortality of the sea creature, the research found. Even a piece of minute plastic tends to cause a gastrointestinal rupture, perforations, and malnutrition among the fishes, sea birds, and at least 80 other marine species.

Read: ‘Queen Of The Ocean’: Massive Great White Shark Caught Off Nova Scotia, Netizens Amazed

[Study locations of cetaceans, pinnipeds, sea turtles, and seabirds spanned all inhabited continents. Credit: Conservation Letters]

[Debris items lethal that are eaten by marine creature. Credit: Conservation Letters]

800,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste

Scientists found that of the total 123 marine mammal species that were impacted by the plastic waste pollution, all seven species of sea turtle, and 203 of 406 seabird species had died due to swallowing these indigestible plastic items. Earlier, an ocean cleanup drive conducted by Dutch scientists in the Pacific Ocean collected 600,000 to 800,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Of this, at least eight million tonnes of plastic waste had floated in from beaches from Hawaii and California.