Plastics in the Ocean: Danger on the High Seas

The very qualities that make plastics so attractive to people can prove dangerous once these plastics get out of our hands…especially if they find their way into the ocean. The long-lasting, lightweight materials can float around the ocean for years and years, accumulating in larger piles while doing damage to the ecology of whatever ocean they happen to be dumped in.  Every year 14 billion pounds of garbage are dumped into our oceans, a large portion of this consists of plastics.

Some plastics find their way into the seas through accidents, such as the plastic bag spill of 2000, but much of the plastic is just litter, cast carelessly aside by smaller boats and even larger manufacturers that could not care less about the viability of ocean waters. On land, these plastics can eventually be recovered, recycled, or stored in landfills, but in the ocean they are constantly moving and still very durable, so every piece of plastic added contributes to a dangerous whole.

Chemicals

The first primary danger of almost all plastics floating in the ocean are the chemicals they are made with that can leech out into the saltwater, chemicals like phthalates and other compounds that can have serious toxic effects in high concentrations. These chemicals can eventually infect surrounding plant and animal life, lowering reproductive rates and increasing die-offs.

Large Plastics

Large plastics, such as the notorious pieces of fishing net that can stretch for miles across the ocean, tend to affect larger types of marine life, such as seals, sea lions, and dolphins. If these animals do not know to avoid a particular area, they can run into large plastics, get caught in them, and drown without being able to come back up for air. Large plastics also tend to break down into smaller plastics, which can pose other types of danger.

Smaller Plastics

Small plastics share some of the same dangers as larger pieces, but also have more subtle hazards. Birds, turtles, and small fish can easily mistake small pieces for food and eat them only to choke on the inedible plastic (in the case of birds, mothers can choke when trying to regurgitate the plastic to feed it to their chicks). When small plastics breakdown, they turn into microscopic plastic pieces that are harder to see but easier to eat, and more likely to cause toxic damage to ocean life.

Plastic Masses

Most news-watching people are now aware of the massive “garbage patch” or “trash vortex” located in the Pacific Ocean, where tides have brought plastics from around the edges of the ocean into a central spot. Similar, though smaller masses are also forming in the Atlantic Ocean. While these masses may conjure images of entire islands of walkable plastic, spots that bad are very rare, and usually there are only small pieces of plastic floating here and there…for hundreds of miles. The total effect is very unhealthy to ocean life, especially the small eco-habitats that have incorporated the plastic masses and use them to hide from prey or search for food.

Check out this video on Hip Moms Go Green TV entitled, World biggest garbage dump – plastic in the Ocean.