I still remember seeing the picture of a sea turtle painfully twisted into a six-pack plastic ring. This image still sits with me 25 years later. With so many major environmental problems threatening our planet, it is hard to pick one. Human overpopulation, water shortages, groundwater pollution, and ozone depletion are just a few. Anyone that knows me knows that my passion lies with animals. I have dedicated a good part of my life so far towards animal care and behavior. Of the many environmental problems currently plaguing the earth, the senseless deaths of wildlife directly related to human behaviors are the most infuriating to me.
The National Academy of Sciences did a study in 1975 that estimated nearly 14 billion pounds of garbage and 0.1% of global plastic production washes into the ocean each year. Most of the trash in the ocean is from land based human activities. Trash comes from cargo ships, beaches or blows into the ocean off the streets. Perhaps one of the most concerning examples of ocean trash is “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge conglomeration of plastic and other nonbiodegradable flotsam swirling off the California coast, is estimated at anywhere from twice as big as Texas to larger than the U.S” (Johnson, 2009). Animals that have been displaced by environmental and habitat pressures take advantage of the trash and feed on it.
One of the many animals being affected by trash is the whale. The Marine Pollution Bulletin (2013) explains that ingested plastic is unable to be digested, sitting in the whales’ stomachs, and blocking the digestive tract. This prevents them from eating food and essentially causes these animals to die of starvation.
Whales are not the only marine animal being affected by trash. Based on the Schuyler et al. (2012) study, turtles prefer buoyant plastic and trash that resembles jelly fish. Often, these become lodged in the turtles’ throats, causing them to die of starvation. Aside from eating trash, animals can become entangled in fish nets and six pack rings, causing limb amputation, cutting off airways or preventing growth.
So far, no large-scale interventions have been put into place to successfully reduce or eliminate trash in the sea. Companies have begun to create edible or biodegradable six-pack rings in hopes of preventing some of these problems. Marine animal deaths are on the rise and humans continue to add fuel to the proverbial fire.
photo credit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-saltwater-brewery-non-plastic-six-pack-rings-spare-sea-turtles/
References
Johnson, R. (2009, July/August). The Deadly Truth About Trash: HSUS animal caretakers see litter’s lethal dangers. Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/news/magazines/2009/07-08/the_deadly_truth_about_trash.html
National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting. (1975). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,72(8), 2837-2838. doi:10.1073/pnas.72.8.2837
Schuyler, Q., Hardesty, B. D., Wilcox, C., & Townsend, K. (2012). To Eat or Not to Eat? Debris Selectivity by Marine Turtles. PLoS ONE,7(10). doi:10.1371/annotation/0215f07d-0265-485c-966f-aee192a18313
Stephanis, R. D., Giménez, J., Carpinelli, E., Gutierrez-Exposito, C., & Cañadas, A. (2013). As main meal for sperm whales: Plastics debris. Marine Pollution Bulletin,69(1-2), 206-214. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.01.033