Garbage is circling the ocean and is affecting all the eco systems in its path. These facts were collected by Glenn Letham, a blogger for GISUser.com, who attended a lecture at the University of Victoria. After our recent feature on protecting our oceans, we wanted to share these unsettling truths about the state of our plane’t most vital resource – our oceans.
“Plastics are widespread and largely unseen. Fish are feeding on plastics, so much so that biologists actually want to incorporate plastic into the food chain diagrams! Pollution comes from many sources, mainly plastic bags, water bottles. These plastics find their way into the ocean, converge into the Great Garbage Patch and then start a journey navigating the Ocean via a series of currents, resulting in an endless trip and growing cycle of trash. What’s disturbing is the impact this is having on sea life and eventually on the human population.
- Some of the most common fish (in bio-mass) in the sea are consuming plastics (a study showd 35% of those surveyed had plastic present)
- Fish are becoming weaker and have a lower reproduction rate after ingesting plastics
- Many items are not biodegradable when in the ocean
- Pollutants are resulting in estrogen being introduced into human diets and potentially raising rates of diabetes and obesity