How Plastic Pollution Harms Marine Life: Exploring the Impact
How Plastic Pollution Harms Marine Life: Exploring the Impact
Plastic pollution is a global issue that affects beaches, small islands, and even the deepest parts of the ocean. Plastic waste threatens the survival of many species and destroys whole ecosystems.
As the ocean is the main source of food and habitat for marine animals; plastic pollution causes marine health problems, internal injuries, and digestive system problems. On top of that, the ropes, nets, and polythene bags get stuck in fins and necks, making breathing difficult.
A single plastic particle can absorb up to a million times the amount of toxic chemicals in water around it. Plastic waste kills over a million seabirds each year.
Source: Freepik
Understanding the Escalation of Plastic Pollution
Based on research, plastics will probably surpass all fish in the sea by 2050. There are three types of plastic particles harmful to living beings and nature.
- Macro Plastics
Macro plastics are a large variety of plastic, accumulating from small plastic fragments to large objects such as shipwrecks and trawl bags. Generally, size ranges from 5cm to 50 cm. These plastics usually end up in the sea with the flow of rivers and drains. Also, the main reason for pollution is ignorance about plastic waste on beaches.
Macro plastics can be seen through the naked eye. These resemble jellyfish so many seabirds and sea animals consume plastics. But small Sea creatures can become entangled in plastic materials such as fishing nets, ropes, and plastic bags. This can result in injury, stress, or drowning.
- Meso Plastics
Meso plastics are plastic particles that are smaller in size than macro plastics. Their size ranges from 5mm to 25mm. Meso plastics consist of items like virgin resin pellets and other small plastic fragments.
Similar to macro plastics, they often find their way into marine ecosystems through rivers. These plastics directly impact aquatic animals, causing ingestion and respiratory failure. Meso plastic debris may eventually break down into micro and nano plastic, hurting the marine environment even more.
- Microplastics and Nano-plastics
Microplastics and nano-plastics are smaller versions of meso plastics. The size range for microplastics is below 5mm, whereas nano-plastics range below 0.5 μm in length. Plastic debris breaks down into these small fragments through both natural and manmade processes.
The primary sources of microplastics and nano-plastics in marine ecosystems are land-based, such as rivers and human activities. These plastic debris discharge toxins that harm the hormone system of marine life. They act as a trajectory for disease in the environment.
Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Life
Marine life is unfavorably impacted by plastic pollution. It has caused an increase in the mortality rate of marine life over the past century. Animals struggle to breathe and move freely in the presence of plastic bags in the oceans and seas.
The lists given below are the causes and their impact of plastic pollution on marine life:
Source: Freepik
- Impacts of Garbage Waste
Garbage waste is a collection of items that contain non-biodegradable plastics from landfills, illegal dumping, and littering. Due to poor land management, these wastes are washed into the ocean from rivers, sewage systems, and heavy rainfall.
Garbage wastes are reactive, ignitable, and corrosive. As marine species consume plastics mistakenly as food, macro or meso plastics get stuck in and create problems in breathing, and swallowing. Micro and nano plastics react to cells and reduce food intake, delaying growth, and causing oxidative damage and abnormal behavior.
- Impacts of Sewage system
A sewage system is a mixture of water, human excreta, and garbage. This unmanaged system gives rise to serious environmental and public health issues. The ingestion of sewage can lead to mortality, illness, and coral bleaching in populations of crustaceans, marine life, and coral.
Excessive nutrients present in sewage lead to a reduction in the reproductive capacity and physical strength of corals, and their ability to grow. There is also an increase in the development of algae, which leads to the deaths of many other organisms. Furthermore, the contamination of wastewater exposes marine organisms to pathogenic microorganisms, resulting in the occurrence of coral illnesses.
- Impacts from the Fishing Industry
The fishing industry is the confinement of fish and other marine life. These industries release harmful antibiotics and create hazardous water conditions. This results in the buildup of excrement.
The fishing industry damages marine life by abandoning fishing gear, bycatch, and habitat damage caused due to overfishing. These industries release chemicals that in the long term affect the developmental systems of marine species. This results in reproductive failures and population declines.
- Impacts on Animals
- Whales and Other Marine Megafauna
Whales and other megafauna like giant octopuses, ray fish, etc consume smaller marine organisms which consume plastic particles. This makes whales and megafauna ingest millions of microplastic particles, making them the largest consumers of plastic waste on the planet. Similarly, entanglement from abandoned gear contributes to the death of whales and other marine megafauna.
- Sea Turtles
Sea Turtles are one of the endangered marine species affected by plastic pollution. Hundreds of marine turtles die in a year. They take plastics as food which results in ingestion and breaks intestinal walls, resulting in internal bleeding. Food is not the only reason death occurs. Many abandoned gears and macro plastics floating in water entangle animals and make it hard to move and lose breath.
- Seabirds
Seabirds are intoxicated by chemicals present in plastics. These chemicals can accumulate in the birds’ bodies, affecting their health and reproductive capabilities. If both the land and water are filled with plastics, no sea birds can find food and end up malnourished. Plastic entanglement either kills seabirds or stays hanging on them, making it harder for them to catch food or escape predators.
- Fish
Fishes directly consume plastic debris as food. Micro and nano plastics can get attached to the skin and lead megafauna to consume as well. Ingested plastic particles cause intestinal blockage and internal injuries. The debris produces harmful toxins that affect the food web and negatively impact the health of marine ecosystems.
How Can We Contribute to Reduce Plastic Pollution?
Source: Freepik
- Eco-friendly Concepts for Controlling Plastic Pollution: Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce (3Rs)
Eco-friendly concepts are practices that prioritize the well-being of the resources. It makes an individual life efficient. Reuse, reduce, and recycle are three environmentally responsible ideas that help in controlling plastic pollution.
Reduce: The limitation in the use of disposable items such as bags, straws, and bottles helps waste management. Also as customers, manufacturers should be informed to use less plastic or recycled content in their products. This can be the initial phase of reducing plastic use and also the production.
Reuse: The effective use of reusable items, including food containers, reusable water bottles, and purchasing bags helps in the positive promotion of waste management. Consumers should consider reusing products rather than disposing of plastic items and encourage others as well.
Recycle: Recycling contributes to improving the environment by promoting its health and sustainability. Compared to producing new goods from raw materials, recycling conserves energy and resources while reducing contamination in ecosystems.
- A Collaborative Approach to Plastic-free Zones
A collaborative approach promotes and encourages everyone to address the harm caused by plastic pollution. Together working on environmental projects can solve plastic pollution by promoting sustainable and innovative solutions. Plastic pollution can be reduced by waste management, ocean protection, and sustainable development projects—alternatives like educating communities, businesses, and schools. Collaboration on health concern campaigns can achieve a plastic-free future.
- Awareness and Capacity-building Campaigns
Sustainable practices and community empowerment require awareness and capacity-building programs. Campaigns aim to teach people, companies, and governments how to change how they think about, use, and deal with plastic waste. This includes many different things, like efforts to make consumers and businesses more aware, documentaries, school projects, clean-up days, etc.
These efforts give more people and groups the power to act by making people more aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and changing how people in the community think about them. These campaigns promote worldwide cooperation and positive change to create a sustainable, plastic-free future.
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FAQs
- How Much Marine Life is Killed by Plastic?
Each year, one hundred million marine life is killed by plastic.
- How Does Plastic Pollution Affect Our Ecosystem?
Plastic pollution can change natural processes and habitats, making ecosystems less able to adapt to climate change. This has a direct impact on the ability of millions of people to produce food, maintain their social well-being, and support themselves.
- What is the Biggest Threat to Marine Life?
Plastic pollution as well as overfishing is the biggest threat to marine life.
- What is the Main Source of Marine Pollution?
The main sources of marine pollution are non-points that are pipe, gutter, ship or factory smokestacks.
- Who Dumps Plastic in the Ocean?
Rivers and drains transport land-based waste to the ocean.
- How Can Plastic Be Removed From the ocean?
Plastics cannot be removed singly. Individuals can contribute to waste management following eco-friendly concepts that are reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R).
