Marine debris: a threat to all life on our planet
From bottle tops on beaches to microplastics in bodies, marine debris infiltrates the environment, animals and humans, posing an ever-growing threat to all life on our planet.
One of the starkest examples of marine debris is Midway Atoll - an atoll lying halfway between North America and Asia in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (GPGP). Due to its position within the North Pacific Gyre, marine debris surrounds Midway Atoll, washing up on its shores and disguising itself as food for the atoll’s animals.
A 2016 CNN documentary, “Midway: A Plastic Island,” captured the devastating effects of the GPGP on both the environment and the animals of Midway Atoll. As lumps of plastic and other marine debris fill the screen, presenter Nick Paton Walsh explains the extent of the atoll’s waste problem: “Your coffee cup, water bottle, toothbrush, may all float miles to end up on these shores, inside these birds, the blubber of these seals, in the sand, and invisibly in the waves these dolphins call home, and eventually these plastics may well end up inside you.”
Carelessly discarded, everyday objects become destructive and threatening. In a harrowing section of the documentary, a guide opens up the stomach of a dead albatross to show the myriad of plastic inside their body. Included in this array is a red Coca Cola bottle top, which the albatross has likely mistaken for a squid of the same colour. There seems to be no end to the array of marine debris that surrounds and contaminates Midway Atoll.
Despite rising awareness of Midway Atoll’s vulnerable ecosystem, marine debris continues to be washed ashore and end up in the stomachs of animals. A Facebook post from 29th July 2021 on Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge detailed a new batch of marine debris that was steadily washing ashore. The debris, which included items such as a brand new refrigerator, styrofoam chunks, medical vials, and masks, is believed to have originated from a container ship that lost 1,816 shipping containers overboard in November 2020. The Friends of Midway Atoll note that “new trash from the ship arrives daily and likely will for years to come.”
Midway Atoll exemplifies the destructive nature of marine debris. However, it is important to remember that marine debris’ effects are not confined to the shores of Midway Atoll or the albatrosses that make it their home. Rather, marine debris litters oceans and shores across the planet and makes its way into the bodies of both humans and animals.
A United Nations Environment Programme report stated that “more than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by marine debris through ingestion, entanglement, ghost fishing and dispersal by rafting as well as habitat effects.” This figure is 69 per cent greater than that reported in a 1977 review, and the UN states the numbers are steadily rising.
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Furthermore, a recent study, led by The University of Exeter, suggests that plastic pollution is creating an “evolutionary trap” for young sea turtles. Dr Emily Duncan comments, “juvenile turtles have evolved to develop in the open ocean, where predators are relatively scarce. However, our results suggest that this evolved behaviour now leads them into a 'trap' – bringing them into highly polluted areas such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Dr Duncan continues, “juvenile sea turtles generally have no specialised diet – they eat anything, and our study suggests this includes plastic. We don't yet know what impact ingesting plastic has on juvenile turtles, but any losses at these early stages of life could have a significant impact on population levels.” The plastic found in Pacific turtles was mostly hard fragments, while Indian Ocean turtles contained mostly fibres, possibly from fishing ropes or nets.
Not only do larger bits of plastic get lodged inside the stomachs of birds and marine animals, but microplastics have been steadily making their way inside the bodies of animals and humans alike. Microplastics are defined as plastic particles under 5mm in size and because of their small size “microplastics can be ingested by a wide variety of marine organisms. Ingestion may be direct or indirect via trophic transfer (e.g., up the food web).”
Microplastics ingested by animals like fish and shellfish can enter the human body through the same trophic transfer, with Madeleine Smith et al. noting that “in vivo studies have demonstrated nanoplastics can translocate to all organs.” With emerging evidence of trophic transfer, Madeleine Smith et al. suggest that despite nutritional authorities advising Americans to double their seafood consumption, “awareness or concerns about microplastics in seafood could lead consumers to reduce their consumption.”
Marine animals are not the only source of human ingested microplastics, however. The ubiquity of marine debris means that microplastics are entering the human body in a variety of ways. A recent 2019 study in Environmental Science & Technology has suggested that the “annual [human] microplastics consumption ranges from 39,000 to 52,000 particles,” with these estimates increasing to “74,000 to 121,000 when inhalation is considered.”
The extent of continued exposure to microplastics is still uncertain, but scientists hypothesise that “because microplastics are associated with chemicals from manufacturing and that sorb from the surrounding environment, there is concern regarding physical and chemical toxicity. Evidence regarding microplastic toxicity and epidemiology is emerging.”
From the littered shores of Midway Atoll to the plastic fragments in turtles’ stomachs, to microplastics in human bodies, it is clear that marine debris is a threat to all life on our planet. The true extent of this threat is continuing to emerge and calls for us to do more to tackle this ever-growing issue, whether through personal or governmental changes.
Samantha Hind is a WRoCAH-funded PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield. She has been undertaking an internship with Surge as part of her PhD that explores representations of flesh in 21st-century speculative fiction, and she has an interest in critical animal studies and environmental humanities, more broadly. Her social media channels include Twitter, the ShARC website and a personal website.
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