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Plastic pollution: Images of a global problemIn its June issue, National Geographic magazine has published a selection of startling photos highlighting the vast amounts of discarded plastic choking the world's oceans, shorelines and rivers.Wildlife, particularly marine animals, are at risk when they become entangled in plastic waste, or ingest it.
QuotePlastic pollution: Images of a global problemIn its June issue, National Geographic magazine has published a selection of startling photos highlighting the vast amounts of discarded plastic choking the world's oceans, shorelines and rivers.Wildlife, particularly marine animals, are at risk when they become entangled in plastic waste, or ingest it.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44215881
Emotive picture, but would the turtle be any better off if the fishing net was made of a natural material?
Cleaning the seabed: Divers halt the carnage of ‘ghost’ netsPOROS [Island], Greece - There are ghosts in the ocean. Silent killers carried by the currents, wrapping themselves around reefs and claiming the lives of millions of marine creatures great and small, from sponges and tiny crustaceans to dolphins, sharks and whales.In their former lives, these ghosts were nets and other fishing gear essential to the livelihoods of millions around the world, and put food on the plates of millions more. But once lost, abandoned or discarded into the sea, these nets continue doing what they were designed to do: catch fish.Mostly made of strong plastic such as nylon, this lost gear known as ghost nets doesn’t easily decompose.“They can remain there for hundreds of years and continue fishing,” said Maria Salomidi, environmental researcher at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. The trapped fish quickly become bait, attracting larger predators who in turn become entangled themselves.“And so starts a vicious cycle which … can kill anything from small crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters to large fish, turtles, seals, dolphins,” Salomidi added.