Death knell for oceans as plastic piles up; Will the world wake up at least now?
Oceans are being polluted by increased dumping of plastic, and marine life is being threatened
The oceans are full of plastic, with more plastic adding to the huge floating piles every passing day. The situation has been worrying, with scientists trying to devise measures that could reduce the huge influx of plastic content into the oceans.
Scientists are of the opinion that plastic pollution in the oceans would continue to increase even if significant action is taken now. That means any effort to stop such inflow of plastic waste would not be enough to prevent a catastrophe.
Almost 2,600 research papers on the subject of plastic waste in the oceans were reviewed by Germany-based Alfred Wegener Institute after it was commissioned by the WWF, an environmental campaign body. The massive review aimed at providing inputs in time for the meeting called by the United Nations soon.
Oceans suffer from increased presence of plastic
Scientists who have undertaken the review are of the opinion that plastic waste is filing up even the deepest ocean trenches, the sea surface and also the Arctic sea ice, said a report. Significant about the review is that it has found that regions like the Mediterranean, the East China and Yellow Seas are already hugely affected by the presence of dangerous levels of plastic. Meanwhile, they have also found that other regions besides these are seeing an increasing presence of plastic.
The most dangerous fall out is that every single species that thrives in the oceans is affected. Plastic pollution has been impacting marine life and ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves across the seas. The plastic waste that gets dumped into the waters breaks down into tiny pieces and they naturally become part of the marine food chain. This negatively impacts all living things under the seas, including planktons to the smallest fish to the whales to the reefs.
Right policies needed to tide over crisis
The situation has gone out of hand already, and saving marine life from the ill effects brought in through the dumping of plastic waste into the seas, has turned out to be a Herculean task. The danger that is already inside the oceans looms large. All that can be done is to prevent more plastic from getting into the waters.
For that to work, it would need the right policies and their implementation. A global problem, this indeed is. And so, solutions also need to be of a perfect nature. Let’s hope the nations of the world would give it a serious thought.
