|
Marine
litter
Do
you know that thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other
animals (like turtles) die every year because of marine litter?
Yes, it's
a sad but true fact. It is estimated that, globally, over a million
birds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles die every year from
entanglement, or ingestion of plastics (Laist 1997).
Here
are some examples of how this could happen:
Seumas the sea eagle 
pecks and eats something shiny in the water which blocks his intestines.
Tom the turtle 
gulps down a jelly fish...only to find out it's a plastic bag
which fills his stomach and stays there forever making it impossible
for him to digest food so he dies from starvation.
Peggy the porpoise gets caught in an old discarded
fishing net and so can't surface to breathe and drowns.
Harry the humpback whale tangles
himself in an old rope which is caught on the sea bed below and
can't escape. After struggling he drowns too.
Duncan the dolphin  plays
with a plastic cable tie and gets it caught on his pectoral fin.
This causes a cut which gets badly infected and never heals.
These
are just some examples.
Here's
what you can do to help:
Take
all your rubbish home from the beach - many items take
years to degrade and, as you know, are dangerous to wildlife.
If you see rubbish left on a beach take it home too and
dispose of it properly - you will be doing the wildlife and
next visitors to the beach a favour!
Don't
flush cotton buds or anything plastic down the toilet
- or you might find it on the beach next time you go there!
Avoid
using new plastic bags - re-use old ones when you go
shopping or even better use a cloth bag which you can reuse for
years to come. This cuts down on the number of plastic bags and
so reduces the chance of them causing marine animals harm.
Avoid
buying products sold in lots of packaging - it can end
up as marine litter too. Choose products that have less packaging.
For example, choose a piece of fruit as a break time snack instead
of crisps and chocolate. No packaging and much healthier!
Great for the environment and for you.
Get
involved in a beach clean - a great way to help out is
to join in the fun at a beach clean event. Your school could even
organise one! Look on the Marine
Conservation Societies website for how to do this.
Back
to What Can I do to Help
|
