What are the negative effects of marine litter?
Marine debris can injure or kill marine and coastal wildlife; damage and degrade habitats; interfere with navigational safety; cause economic loss to fishing and maritime industries; degrade the quality of life in coastal communities; and threaten human health and safety.
How do you write an ocean pollution conclusion?
Conclusions: Ocean pollution is a global problem. It arises from multiple sources and crosses national boundaries. It is the consequence of reckless, shortsighted, and unsustainable exploitation of the earth’s resources. It endangers marine ecosystems.
What is plastic fragmentation?
Fragmentation of plastics is thought to be initiated by polymer chain backbone weathering through exposure to sunlight (UV), oxidants, hydrolysis and physical shearing, for example through currents, waves, or friction with sand4,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40.
What are the economic impact of marine litter?
The potential economic losses from an increase in marine debris were greatest in Orange County, California, where doubling the amount of marine debris on beaches resulted in an estimated loss of $414 million tourism dollars spent in communities, and a decrease of nearly 4,300 jobs.
Is it illegal to litter in the ocean?
The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 amended the MPRSA and now prohibits the ocean dumping of municipal sewage sludge and industrial wastes, such as wastes from plastics and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and from petrochemical refineries. The 1988 amendment also banned the ocean disposal of “medical waste.”
What did Cozars study find?
Most of what Cózar’s group found were fragments broken from larger items. That comes as no surprise. In the oceans, plastic breaks down when it’s exposed to light and wave action.
Are there bacteria eating plastic?
Ideonella sakaiensis is a bacterium from the genus Ideonella and family Comamonadaceae capable of breaking down and consuming the plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using it as both a carbon and energy source.
Why are garbage patches filled with plastic?
PLASTIC ACCUMULATION The stronger, more buoyant plastics show resiliency in the marine environment, allowing them to be transported over extended distances. They persist at the sea surface as they make their way offshore, transported by converging currents and finally accumulating in the patch.
Who discovered microplastics?
Professor Richard Thompson OBE
Discovering microplastics In 2004, Professor Richard Thompson OBE and his team showed that microplastic particles have accumulated in oceans since the 1960s and are now present worldwide.
What is tiny plastic big problem about?
Scientists find that tiny pieces of plastic travel great distances, threatening the ocean ecosystem. Pieces of plastic float here in ocean water. This pollution is a growing problem, and not just because it’s ugly: Plastic can kill many kinds of marine life.
Is Adidas making shoes from ocean plastic?
Adidas uses Ocean Plastic to form the upper parts of shoes and clothing like jerseys. Each item in the Parley collection is made from at least 75% intercepted marine trash. And they still meet the same performance and comfort standards of Adidas’ other shoes.
Can the Great Pacific Garbage Patch be seen from space?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large collection of marine debris that can be seen floating on the ocean surface. It’s large, but you can’t see it from space.