Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

PLASTICS.

According to a UN report plastic debris entering the ocean could be as high as 24 million pieces per day. 20% of that plastic comes from ships and offshore platforms, the rest is blown in from or washed off of land.

Plastic debris is now being found in even the most remote regions of the globe, like Antarctica.

Most plastics just break up into smaller and smaller particles. British scientists have found microscopic pieces of plastic even inside plankton which is the foundation for the marine food chain.

A Dutch study done in 2004 found on average 30 pieces of plastic in the stomachs of dead Seagulls in the North Sea. The UN has reported more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles are killed by the consumption or hazards associated with plastics.

It is estimated between 1997 and 2007 some 500 million computers used in the U.S. alone will have produced a staggering 600,000 tones of toxic waste, much of which is plastic. Perhaps 50-80 percent of this waste will be exported to developing countries. Where it goes from there is any one’s guess, but our oceans might be a good guess.

Disappearing plankton from the waters off of Northern California, Oregon and Washington were thought to have met their end from the lack of ‘upwelling’. (seasonal movement of cold nutrient-rich offshore waters near shores)

Maybe….Mr. Mc Guire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?

Labels: Ocean, Ocean Habitat, Plastic, Sewage