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Plastic pollution does not only affect animals that live solely in oceans. Seabirds are also greatly affected. In 2004, it was estimated that gulls in the North Sea had an average of thirty pieces of plastic in their stomachs. [206] Seabirds often mistake trash floating on the ocean's surface as prey.
Plastic pollution affects at least 700 marine species, including sea turtles, seals, seabirds, fish, whales, and dolphins. [51] Cetaceans have been sighted within the patch, which poses entanglement and ingestion risks to animals using the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a migration corridor or core habitat. [52]
Degraded plastic waste can directly affect humans through direct consumption (i.e. in tap water), indirect consumption (by eating plants and animals), and disruption of various hormonal mechanisms. [12] As of 2019, 368 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year; 51% in Asia, where China is the world's largest producer. [13]
More than 330 species of wildlife around the world are contaminated with PFAS or "forever chemicals," according to a new analysis chemical pollution in animals. ... “What affects humans is going ...
While marine pollution can be obvious, as with the marine debris shown above, it is often the pollutants that cannot be seen that cause most harm.. Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there.
A major concentration of plastic may be the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a growing collection of marine debris known for its high concentrations of plastic litter. Nurdles that escape from the plastic production process into waterways or oceans have become a significant source of ocean and beach plastic pollution .
Animal agriculture worldwide encompasses 83% of farmland (but only accounts for 18% of the global calorie intake), and the direct consumption of animals as well as over-harvesting them is causing environmental degradation through habitat alteration, biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and trophic interactions. [174]
Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created solid material that has deliberately or accidentally been released in seas or the ocean.Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack.