Plastic Pollution: A Threat To Ocean Life

With our ignorance, we are turning our ocean into a plastic soup and the huge rate of plastic accumulation within our ocean and in our beaches becoming a universal calamity. Each year near about 8 millions of tonnes of plastic enters into the sea and 40 percent of the ocean surfaces is already been covered by plastics. In a prediction, with this current rate of plastic addition, and mismanagement we will find more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. Countless marine birds and sea animals were entangled or poisoned by the chemical contamination of polluted water. As David Attenborough, Naturalist says “there is no away-because plastic is so permanent and so indestructible. When you cast it into the ocean, it doesn’t go away”. To fight this problem we need awareness massive decrease in plastic and reframe our waste management system.

Plastics are flexible, moisture resistance and most importantly less expensive. This striking quality leads to versatile use and overconsumption of plastic goods over the globe. It contributed to raising the millions of people out of poverty. But due to mismanagement 80% of ocean plastic pollution caused by land-based sources.

The Consequences:

• Small pieces of plastics, microbeads are eaten by fish, seabirds, and turtles that often leads to death. Sea animals were even found dead entangled up in the debris.

• The plastic debris contains chemicals (such as pesticides, organic pollutants etc.) that cause pollution while decomposing.

• The tissue of the aquatic bodies was even found to transformed due to the presence of harmful substances present in plastic.

How to fight this situation:

• Reducing plastic consumption in our daily life is the most effective way to reduce plastics in the ocean.

• We should limit our plastic use and find alternatives in terms of reusable bag and cloth bags and make sure to recycle the plastic straws, containers at our best.

• Immediate action should be taken to get better waste management.

• The strategy and public education must be amplified to incorporate the education about plastics, recycling and waste management at the school level.

Sea species like whales, sharks, exotic fish spices, sea birds need our assistance to fight this threat. The longer we wait, the more serious it gets. To save our ocean we need to turn the tide on plastic pollution.