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Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and dolphins), all of its sea turtles, and a third of its seabirds, are known to ingest plastic.
By using data on surface plastic concentration (pieces of plastic per km 2) from 1972 to 1985 (n=60) and 2002–2012 (n=457) within the same plastic accumulation zone, the study found the mean plastic concentration increase between the two sets of data, including a 10-fold increase of 18,160 to 189,800 pieces of plastic per km 2.
Discarded plastic bags floating in the ocean resemble jellyfish, a common food of sea turtles. If a turtle eats a plastic bag, it tends to clog the turtle's digestive system and result in the animal dying. There have been many cases of dissection showing plastic and other debris inside turtles' stomachs and intestines. [13]
This can bring seabirds, whales, fish, and turtles to die of starvation with plastic-filled stomachs. Marine species can also be suffocated or entangled in plastic garbage. [35] The biggest threat of ocean plastic pollution comes from microplastics. These are small fragments of plastic debris, some of which were produced to be this small such ...
A baby sea turtle that washed ashore in Florida and later died was found to have 104 pieces of plastic in its stomach upon examination. The tiny creature, which "would fit in the palm of your hand ...
Coral reefs are dying around the world. [1] Human activities have substantial impact on coral reefs, contributing to their worldwide decline. [2] Damaging activities encompass coral mining, pollution (both organic and non-organic), overfishing, blast fishing, as well as the excavation of canals and access points to islands and bays.
Plastic pollution has also greatly negatively affected our environment. "The pollution is significant and widespread, with plastic debris found on even the most remote coastal areas and in every marine habitat". [77] This information tells us about how much of a consequential change plastic pollution has made on the ocean and even the coasts.
Plastics accounts for 80% of waste dispersed in the marine and coastal environment of the Mediterranean Sea. [24] Recent studies focus on the types of plastics found and primarily on the issue of microplastics, both at a global but also at a regional level, as in the case of the Mediterranean Sea, which was identified as a "target hotspot of the world" due to its amounts of microplastics ...