 Image from CNN.com In November, 19 rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found a dead whale on the Indonesia shore. The whale was lying in the water all in one piece. It had an open cut, and the rescuers found 13 pounds of plastic waste - what they think is what caused the death. That’s a lot of plastic, but this is our world. This is what is happening to animals, which is really sad. If you litter, you are hurting our animals in our world and some of them help us survive. According to CNN.com a minister of maritime affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, says that the discovery of the whale has been a massive wake-up call for his government. The government of Indonesia has a goal of reducing the use of plastic by 70% by the year of 2025.
Most pollution comes from activity on land that goes into the ocean, and the animals mistake it from their food and eat it and when they do it can cause life-threatening problems. Like, reduce fitness, nutrient uptake and, feeding of residency which are all vital for survival. A big source is called non-point-source pollution, and it occurs as a result of runoff. Something that is really crazy is that EVERY YEAR 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean. Pollution that comes from a source, like an oil or chemical spill, is known as point-source pollution. Often these events have large impacts, but fortunately, they occur less often. For more than 30 years, volunteers have picked up more than 220 million pounds of trash from the world’s beaches which is just sad that we have so much pollution in our world. Most people believe that 700 hundred species could go extinct because of the plastic. Current estimates say that at least 267 species world wide have been affected. Which is including 84% of sea turtles, 44% of all seabirds and 43% of all of the marine mammals. Sea turtles are dying from plastic because like all animals they mistake it from their food but sometimes it can cause blockage and hurt them REALLY BAD. Necropsies performed after they found out that the amount of plastic debris was increasing and killing the whales and the dolphins. Plastic pollution deeply impacts species of fish, but unlike other animals fish is one animal that is commonly eaten by animals and if the people who prepare the seafood for human consumption don’t see the plastic in the fishes than the people who eat them could get SERIOUSLY sick! According to Onegreenplanet.com an eight-year study in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia documented 388 sea lions trapped in plastic debris. Last thing is that another study found that HUNDREDS of species have been negatively impacted by plastic pollution over the past TWO DECADES. Story by Sydney Dickson |
