How Many Animals Killed By Ocean Plastics
Nearly 1,800 animals since 2009 accept had life-threatening encounters. A new report details the grim circumstances facing marine animals equally millions of pounds of plastic go along to make their fashion into the oceans every year. Almost one,800 animals from 40 unlike species swallowed or became entangled in plastic between 2009 and 2018, the report, by ocean conservation group Oceana, found. Nigh 88% were animals listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, including Hawaiian monk seals, Stellar sea lions, manatees and all six species of sea turtle found in the U.S. A ocean panthera leo with a packing strap stuck around its cervix in Alaska. Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game via AFP/Getty Images The plastic was establish to have affected the animals at all life stages, from recently hatched sea turtles to seal mothers with nursing pups. More than 800 animals listed in the written report were sea turtles, and more than than 900 were marine mammals. Researches added that the numbers in the report are likely conservative estimates, every bit non every affected animal is reported. The pieces of plastic chronicled in the written report ranged from microplastics that perforated the alimentary canal of a infant sea turtle to DVD cases and "huge plastic sheets" that had been swallowed past whales. Plastic packing straps, bags, balloons with strings, and sheeting were the items nigh unremarkably reported. A manatee swims among discarded plastic in South Florida. 4ocean via AFP/Getty Images The animals also came into contact with items such equally zip ties, dental floss and mesh produce numberless seen at grocery stores, Dr. Kimberly Warner, the author of the report and a senior scientist at Oceana, said in a argument. Other incidents involved items including bottle caps, water bottles, straws, buckets, plastic chairs, plastic forks, toothbrushes, children'due south toys, buckets, bubble wrap, sponges, swim goggles, plastic holiday grass, sandwich bags and polystyrene cups, the report said. The animals often mistake plastic for nutrient or swallow it while swimming or feeding, according to experts. After it's consumed, the plastic can lacerate their intestines or obstruct digestion, according to the report. When the plastic remains in an animal'due south tum, they may believe they are full and non seek to eat, leading to starvation or decease, scientists say. In some cases, merely ane piece of ingested plastic may have been enough to contribute to an animal'southward expiry, like in the instance of a pygmy sperm whale whose dead body was discovered in New Jersey with just one plastic bag in its stomach, co-ordinate to the report. A baby sea turtle stuck in plastic on a embankment in Florida. Gumbo Limbo Nature Heart via AFP/Getty Images And when entangled in plastic, some marine life tin can drown, choke or suffer physical trauma or amputation, which can then lead to infection, the report said. Once study, a Kemp's ridley sea turtle drowned later on a plastic bag filled with sand wrapped effectually its cervix, according to the study. Scientists believe the turtle drowned from the weight of the handbag. A sea turtle plain-featured after being entangled in plastic, is treated at the Body of water Turtle Infirmary at University of Florida Whitney Laboratory. The Bounding main Turtle Infirmary via AFP/Getty Images Scientists gauge that 15 million metric tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year -- the equivalent of about two garbage trucks' worth every minute, co-ordinate to the report. Plastic production is expected to quadruple in the coming decades, and the amount of plastic flowing into the oceans will triple by 2040 if nothing changes, Christy Leavitt, i of the report'south coauthors, said in a statement. Researchers complied the report by surveying dozens of governmental agencies, organizations and institutions that collect data on the touch on of plastics on wild animals. A spinner dolphin jumps out of the water with plastic around the nose, in an undated photo. There are nearly i,800 cases of turtles and marine mammals that have swallowed or become entangled in plastic objects off the American coast since 2009, according to a written report by the American NGO, Oceana, which attempts to draw the cumulative affect of plastic pollution on marine fauna in the United States over the by decade. Pacific Whale Foundation via AFP/Getty Images Stopping plastic from inbound the body of water will take a combination of action by both government and big business, according to the researchers. To do so, not only must companies reduce the production of plastic, peculiarly single-use plastic, but they must offer plastic-free choices to consumers. In addition, governments at all levels must laissez passer policies to reduce the product of single-use plastics, and federal agencies tasked with protecting oceans and the species within them must require standardized reporting of all plastic interaction cases, the researchers said. "The world is hooked on plastic because the industry continues to discover increasingly more ways to force this persistent pollutant into our everyday routines -- and it's choking, strangling and drowning marine life," Warner said in a argument. "We can only look these cases to increase as the manufacture continues to push single-use plastic into consumers' easily."Marine animals are swallowing and becoming entangled in plastic at alarming rates, report finds
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/marine-animals-swallowing-entangled-plastic-alarming-rates-report/story?id=74296742
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