Washington/Nairobi - The world's seas are gradually filling with an increasing volume of waste, with plastic making up the single largest part of pollution in the marine environment, according to a new report authored by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Washington-based advocacy group The Ocean Conservancy. Plastic most often found in the form of PET bottles and shopping bags can be found floating in seas around the globe. It accounts for up to 80 per cent of marine waste pollution in some waters, according to the report which was published in Washington and Nairobi to mark World Oceans Day on June 8.
Smoking also plays a major role in marine pollution. The report's researchers discovered that of the 103 million pieces of marine pollution categorized in the study, 25 million were cigarette filters or individual cigarettes.
"The oceans are our life support systems," says Ocean Conservancy president Vikki Spruill. "They supply much of the oxygen we breath, the food we eat and regulate the climate we need to survive. But marine pollution continues to pose a threat to our health."
The report highlights the plight of sea turtles who often confuse plastic bags with jellyfish, one of their main sources of food. Many sea turtles die from consuming plastic bags.
A five-year study of Arctic Fulmar seabirds in the North Sea found 95 per cent had pieces of plastic in their stomachs.
This plastic is then broken down into smaller parts before being passed out into the environment and consumed by smaller organisms. In this way plastic is reaching the lowest levels of the marine food chain.
"Marine waste pollution is symptomatic of a wider problem," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner explains in a press release. "It highlights our wasteful practices and bad management of natural resources."
Plastic bags, bottles and other forms of waste that are gathering in our seas could be recycled or considerably reduced through proper waste management.
"Some forms of waste such as tin foil or disposable plastic bags, which are choking our seas, should be banned or their manufacture quickly stopped. There is no justification for their continued production anywhere," says Steiner.
This first study of its kind looked at marine waste found in 12 sea regions including the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Caribbean.
According to the report's authors much of the waste found at sea is caused by tourism. A good example of how tourism and clean oceans are not mutually exclusive can be found in Mauritius and the Seychelles which are not contributing to waste pollution in the Indian Ocean even though they are very popular tourist destinations.
According to earlier findings by UNEP, 6.4 million tons of waste are disposed of at sea every year. Every square kilometre of sea has an estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.
Most of that waste is produced by international shipping. Instead of paying to dispose of their waste in harbours, many captains decide to have their ship's garbage simply thrown overboard while at sea.
Shipping as a source of marine pollution is followed by domestic and industrial waste that is washed into the oceans down rivers and then spread around the globe by currents and the wind.
Internet: www.unep.org
