Protect Marine Life From The “Poisoning” of Plastic Waste

The ocean, which occupies 70% of the earth’s surface area, plays an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of the earth. Recently, National Geographic, with a history of 130 years, together with domestic experts in the field of marine conservation, launched the “No Plastic Planet” initiative in Shenzhen.

In an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald, Qi Dong, senior vice president and head of National Geographic Asia, a marine environmental advocate, said that due to the lack of environmental awareness and habits in China, marine plastic garbage has seriously affected the survival of marine life and brought harm to the marine ecological environment. “A lot of marine garbage is not caused by throwing garbage at the seaside, but flows in through rivers, and 90% of plastic garbage comes from ten rivers in the world.”

To strengthen the protection of marine ecosystems, many countries are already taking action. For example, the UK announced on April 19, 2018, that it will completely ban plastic swabs, straws and stirring sticks to protect the marine environment; the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, which passed amendments on November 4, 2017, emphasizes that “local coastal people’s governments at all levels (provinces, cities and counties) should share the responsibility for protecting and using the sea in a scientific and rational manner! Not a certain level!”

In Qi Dong’s view, protecting the oceans requires sustained public attention: “This requires continuous publicity and education to raise residents’ awareness of ocean protection, reduce the use of single-use plastics, and get people to dispose of them reasonably by throwing them where they belong.”

The 2017 China Marine Ecological and Environmental Status Bulletin (hereinafter referred to as “the Bulletin”) shows that the pollution of China’s offshore local waters is still serious, and the proportion of water quality at the 55 river sections into the sea continuously monitored for many years is 44%, 42% and 36% respectively, and the quality of water quality in the rivers into the sea is not optimistic. Specific pollution sources include marine litter and microplastics, river pollutants, air pollutants, etc.

In terms of marine litter, the data of plastic litter is particularly conspicuous. The Bulletin points out that the areas with high density of marine litter are mainly distributed in tourist and recreational areas, agricultural and fishery areas, port and shipping areas and adjacent waters, of which plastic litter accounts for the highest percentage. “In the floating garbage on the sea surface, plastic garbage accounts for 87%, mainly divided into polystyrene foam, plastic bags and plastic bottles, etc.; in the seabed garbage, plastic garbage accounts for 74%, mainly plastic bags, plastic bottles, etc.”

Qi Dong also told the 21st Century Business Herald that the current problem of marine litter, especially plastic litter, is more serious and has seriously affected the survival of marine life, and much of the litter is flowing in through the rivers. “At the end of last year there were social pictures showing dead marine animals were dissected and found to have plastic in their bodies.”

Plastic trash into the sea occurs in many places around the world. For example, the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences reported that scholars found uninhabited Henderson Island in the South Pacific full of trash in 2015, with an estimated total of 38 million pieces, most of which was plastic trash, from South America, Asia, New Zealand, Russia and as far away as Scotland.

Data from a December 2017 article by the Marine Conservation Society (MSC) shows that plastic drink bottles, bottle caps, other plastic outgoing drinks and food waste, have been among the top 10 litter scattered on UK beaches, accounting for 20% of marine litter.

According to the British “ScientificReports” (ScientificReports) study, there are at least 79,000 tons of marine plastic waste gathered in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, which currently covers an area of 1.6 million square kilometers.

It is widely believed that plastic litter will undoubtedly pose a threat to the survival of marine life. As the National Geographic article shows, plastic rings from discarded fishing nets or canned beverage sets are a noose in the sea, and plastic in the ocean is estimated to endanger the lives of millions of marine creatures each year, with nearly 700 species, including rare species, known to be at risk.

“After a large amount of garbage enters the sea, marine life is likely to eat it by mistake or get entangled in it, posing a threat to its survival.” A long-time marine conservation industry insider also told the 21st Century Business Herald, “And the body of marine life will contain plastic particles, whether the consumption of the human body is not yet conclusive.”

“The reason for plastic waste pollution is the lack of environmental awareness and habits.” Qi Dong told the 21st Century Business Herald, “The invention of plastic has undoubtedly brought convenience to life, but a lot of disposable plastic is thrown away after use, directly into the river, thrown into the place where it can not be recycled. Including many, many waste disposal plants, they are also dumped at the river, down the river into the sea. Yet the average lifespan of a single-use plastic bag is really only a short 15 minutes.”

At present, China’s newly revised law of the sea especially emphasizes the responsibility to protect the sea to all levels of government to share the responsibility for the protection and scientific and reasonable use of the sea. In this regard, Qi Dong believes that the newly revised law of the sea further clarifies the responsibilities of all levels of government.

In Qi Dong’s opinion, protecting the ocean requires continuous public attention. To this end, National Geographic plans to examine, record and purify the rivers with the most serious plastic pollution worldwide in the next 10 years, and launch a public welfare initiative to reduce the use of single-use plastic products.

It is understood that National Geographic will launch a series of ground activities of beach cleaning by joining hands with many stars and other forms, i.e. picking up garbage at riverside or beaches, and continuously carrying out relevant publicity such as protecting ocean knowledge, so that more people can participate in the activities of protecting the marine environment.

In fact, there are already many companies and groups that are working for environmental protection. For example, MSC reported that McDonald’s will ban the use of plastic straws in all restaurants in the UK from September; the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced that plastic straws will be banned from this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

“What’s important is that people are environmentally aware. There is still not enough ocean conservation being done and not enough people are concerned about the ocean.” Qidong said, “We want to call on people to start from small things, to start from themselves, small actions, big changes.”