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| IMPACT OF PLASTIC POLLUTION ON MARINE LIFE | | |
UMAH-E-ROMAN
With the changing patterns of consumption and resource utilisation, lifestyles and living standards have reached a height where things have changed drastically. This change has its boons and banes. When it comes to banes it has brought with it the deteriorating tendencies in the forms of various kinds of pollutions, including Air pollution, Water pollution, generation of harmful chemicals etc. Among many such issues Plastic pollution is the one. Plastics are widely used because of their durability and strength. But due to their persistence and non-degrading nature they have become a big monster ever created by man.
On the basis of size Plastics are divided as Macroplastics and Microplastics. Microplastics are the product of Plastic pollution. The difference lies in the size of fragments. They are generally less than five millimetres, and above this are the Macroplastics. They are amply spread in the marine ecosystems. They pose many dangers to marine biodiversity because whatever be the source of their generation, they are carried away by rivers, streams and flood waters to seas and oceans. Seas and oceans are their final destination where they remain in the form of debris and contaminate water quality on one hand and marine biodiversity on the other hand. Many times the fishes, whales and other sea animals eat the plastics considering them to be their food. Plastics are a chemical formulation, when eaten by sea animals, they suffer many health issues. Many times they die out of suffocation. As far as microplastics are concerned, because of their minimal size, they remain suspended in water and interrupt with the many life processes of water animals. Microplastic pollution in and around the coastal ecosystem has become a menace nowadays. This has received an amplifying recognition not only from the scientists and policy makers but also from the common people.
Recently a case was studied when a giant whale was found dead near a coastal area. On investigating, thousands of microplastics were found in the stomach of whale, which interrupted with the digestive as well as the circulatory system of the whale leading to its death. Not only marine life but humans, animals and birds do also suffer a big problem from the emerging plastic pollution. Microplastics have a very deep impact on life. They show capability to absorb various organic contaminants, pathogens as well as metals in to the bodies from the environment thereby increasing the toxicity effects. MP’s are easily translocated into gastrointestinal membranes through endocytosis and are ultimately distributed into tissues and organs.
Microplastic contamination was documented for the first time in 21 sea fish and six Chinese fresh water fish in Shanghai, China. In the researched fish both stomach and intestine microplastics and mesoplastics were found in larger amounts. The plastic abundance of intestine was comparatively larger than in the belly (Jabeen et al., 2016).
Plastic debris has a direct effect on the development of disease by causing physical damage to coral tissue. In addition, these plastics add pathogens in and between the reefs thus increase the mode of infection. Plastics on the surface block the light to reach to the corals. They can promote oxygen deficiency in the corals. Moreover, they interrupt with the calcification process of the coral reefs as well as other shelled animals, and hence the shell formation process is stopped. The other animals like hermit crab and sea anemone which are shelled animals suffer a great loss and sometimes even die because of the attack of predators. Not only the shelled animals but those who shelter themselves in the shell of these animals also face death.
Billions of pounds of plastics are found in swirling convergences that make up about 40% of world’s ocean surfaces. At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050. Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to 25,000 tons of plastic each year which can cause intestinal injury and death and transfers the plastic up the food chain to bigger fish, marine mammals and human sea food eaters. A recent found that a quarter of fish at markets in California contained plastic in their guts, mostly in the form of plastic microfibers.
Sea turtles can mistake floating plastic garbage as food. They can choke, sustain internal injury and die or starve by thinking they are full from eating plastic. Tragically, research indicates that half of sea turtles worldwide have ingested plastic. New studies find that plastic pollution is so pervasive on many beaches that it is affecting their reproduction.
Hundreds and thousands of sea birds ingest plastic every year. Plastic ingestion reduces the storage volume of stomach, causing starvation. It is estimated that 60% of all sea bird species have eaten pieces of plastic, with that number predicted to increase to 99% by 2050. Dead Sea birds are often found with stomachs full of plastics, reflecting how the amount of garbage in our oceans has rapidly increased. In the past 40 years.
Marine mammals ingest and get tangle up in plastics. Large amounts of plastic debris have been found in the habitat of critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals, including in areas that serve as pup nurseries. Entanglement of plastics has also lead to several injuries in Steller’s Sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus).
Marine pollution may also interrupts with the shell formation process of coral reefs and other shelled animals like Hermit crab , sea anemone etc. Thus the animals which shelter themselves in the shell of these organisms get homeless and vulnerable to attack by their predators. Many efforts have been made to resolve such big problems of plastic pollution. The International Marine Pollution Act, 1972 and its protocol of 1996, IMO accountable for execution of International Convention for the prevention of pollution from ships (IMO) have recognised the issue of plastic contamination and Marine waste. The MARPOL agreement to this convention shall prohibit the dumping of plastics by ships in both economic zones and waters outside domestic jurisdiction (Haward, 2018). India is committed to eliminate single use plastics completely by 2022. Plastic pollution is an evil, use of plastics need to be stopped otherwise the beauty of sea, the kingdom in ocean will be destroyed soon and hence humans only humans were to be blamed. |
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