Balloons Don’t Belong at the Beach
Report Details Marine Life Plastic Ingestion and Entanglement
By Shari Roan
One of the first-ever surveys on plastic ingestion or entanglement on marine mammals and sea turtles has found cases in 21 of the 23 states studied and suggests that endangered species are most at risk.
Photo taken on Amelia Island at American Beach.
The report, published in November by the nonprofit ocean advocacy group Oceana, found cases of plastic ingestion or entanglement in nearly 1,800 animals from 40 different species over a period of about nine years. The marine animals included sea turtles, manatees, seals, sea lions and baleen and toothed whales. About 90% of the cases involved animals swallowing plastic and 10% involved entanglement in plastic.
Among the cases of plastic ingestion or entanglement, 88% involved species that are listed as endangered or threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act, including Hawaiian monk seals, manatees, Steller sea lions and all six species of U.S. sea turtle.
The report detailed only cases formally compiled by 13 organizations or federal agencies from 2009 to 2018. That means that the actual number of sea turtles and marine mammals impacted by plastic is likely far higher. An estimated 15 million metric tons of plastic are dumped or drift unnoticed into the ocean every year, according to research.
The report “paints a grim picture,” said Dr. Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana. The world is hooked on plastic because the industry continues to find increasingly more ways to force this persistent pollutant into our everyday routines — and it's choking, strangling and drowning marine life.”
According to the report, the most common plastics ingested were:
Bags, balloons, recreational fishing line, plastic sheeting and food wrappers
The most common plastics entangling animals were:
Plastic packing straps, bags, balloons with attached strings and sheeting
Additional plastic items involved in entanglement or ingestion were:
Bottle caps, beverage bottles, straws, plastic chairs, plastic forks, toothbrushes, plastic dental flosser, children’s gliding toys, buckets, bubble wrap, sponges, swim goggles, plastic Easter grass, sandwich bags and polystyrene cups
Marine animals often mistake plastic for food or inadvertently swallow it while feeding or swimming. Once swallowed, it can obstruct their digestion or lacerate their intestines, interfering with their ability to feed and leading to starvation and death.
“This report is merely a snapshot of what’s happening to the animals inhabiting plastic-polluted waters around the United States — imagine how great the numbers would be if they included the animals not observed or documented by humans,” said Christy Leavitt, report author and plastics campaign director at Oceana. “Plastic production is expected to quadruple in the coming decades, and if nothing changes, the amount of plastic flowing into the ocean is projected to triple by 2040. The only way to turn off the tap and protect our oceans is for companies to stop producing unnecessary single-use plastic — and that will require national, state and local governments to pass policies ensuring they do.”
The report, entitled “Choked, Strangled, Drowned: The Plastics Crisis Unfolding In Our Oceans,” can be found at usa.oceana.org.