Alejandro Moctezuma, Alba Hysaj, Arlind Kukaj

ENGL21003: Writing for the Sciences

11/30/2021

                                                                                           Abstract

Ocean pollution is well known topic but not many are educated in the consequences in which our planet occurs to be if we don’t become self-aware and start acting on it.  This paper contains three sections in which we represent a number of relevant facts that show what is polluting the ocean and how it is affecting life inside and outside of it. Throughout this research, we elaborate the importance and relevance that our sources discuss and why we think there is more to explore about it. The first part introduces microplastics as the most significant percentage among the ocean contaminators, thus, culminating in ocean pollution. In the second part, we show the significant danger that plastics have to marine life since they cause suffocation, resulting in the deaths of aquatic life. The last part gives a general overview of the research backround and the aims of this research paper. More specifically, this part discusses what causes plastic to find its way into the ocean and how to pre-manage plastic waste before reaching into water bodies that carry it into the ocean. In this part, oil spills are also discussed as a source of ocean pollution, thus, making human negligence the main factor in contributing to it. The concluding part of this research, summarizes the main findings of this article and suggests practical solutions, however, acknowledgment is the first step towards an action and this is what we aim to have delivered to our readers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction…………..………………………………..…………………………….…..…4
II. Microplastics: Alejandro Moctezuma.…………………………..…………………….…5
III. Plastic pollution impact on marine life: Arlind Kukaj….…………………….…….…7
IV. Solutions: Alba Hysaj………………..……………………………………………………10
V. Conclusion………………………………………………..…………………………….…12
VI.  References…………………………………………..…………………………………..13

 

Introduction

Imagine having seafood and accidentally chewing a piece of plastic that came from the fish that accidentally swallowed it. Now there is only a slight chance of that happening in everyday life but not quite impossible. Although human beings love seafood, it should not be the major reason one should be concerned about ocean being polluted. The ocean provides much more than just seafood and ocean pollution is much more than what an average person thinks involving plastic in the ocean, big or small, affecting humans in some way with marine life ingesting plastic. The plastics made of fossil fuels are over a century old and still in the ocean, and the dead zones with no fish life are growing each year. The oceans not only provide a livelihood to marine life including healthy seafood for humans, they also play a central role in regulating our climate and absorbing carbon dioxide. Throughout this research, we discuss the main causes that pollute the ocean, we expect to identify practical solutions and find useful information that answers our question of how changing the way we think about waste will keep it out of the ocean.

The ocean has been around long before dinosaurs even came to be, it has become the lifeline of the world containing life and giving life. With the ocean being polluted with plastic there won’t be so much life in the ocean as there will be plastic. Micro plastic has been floating around the ocean and landing in the the deepest parts, with not many people educated on micro plastic all of the plastic they unknowingly throw out ends up stacking up, and with already plastic debris and micro plastic coming together the estimation reaches more or less 5.25 trillion particles of plastic.
Plastic pollution is a problem even if the plastic is micro. Micro plastic is plastic that measures at 5mm or less. In fact micro plastic pollution is a problem due to its size. With the oceans constantly moving, micro plastic ends up going everywhere. What happens however when it stays in place with all the other micro plastic. They start to build up becoming a bigger problem. In the article The ocean’s ultimate trashcan: Hadal trenches as major depositories for plastic pollution it talks about the Hadal Trenches being filled up with micro plastic. This is important because with plastic already floating in the ocean now that there is a pit collecting plastic once that fills up then plastic would be overflowing. With a piece of plastic this small how does it fill up trenches? With the amount of plastic thrown into the ocean it is very much possible that all small pieces make up a bigger problem.

 

Not many people realize how important micro plastic really is. In the article Making sense of microplastics? Public understandings of plastic pollution it talks about different groups of people that are from either the side that knows nothing about micro plastic to the side that takes special interest in plastic pollution. There were surveys to see the public’s knowledge on marine litter, 3748 people responded across 16 European countries and from the survey most responded seeing litter across the coastline and conditions worsen. With that in mind after the groups were asked questions regarding plastic pollution all mention hearing about plastic pollution and seem to think of plastic bags in the ocean. However when asked about micro plastic the majority were unfamiliar with the term. This is important because with such a wide participation group knowing only a little bit of micro plastic it can be seen how much in general the public knows about microplastic. Majority of the population contributes in some way to plastic pollution with so many people not knowing about micro plastic means that they unknowingly also create more problems to plastic pollution in the ocean. With micro plastic being a subject not many are aware of people unknowingly causing more and with that micro plastics start to stack up.

The amount of plastic the ocean has reached is 268,940 tons of plastic and that is only estimated. This is about 5.25 trillion particles of plastic with plastic measuring from bottles,bags, and other micro plastics. According to the article by, Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C. M., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., Galgani, F., Ryan, P. G., & Reisser, J. (n.d.). Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans: More than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea, the amount of plastic in the ocean can be estimated with some variables being micro plastics and animals.Micro plastic is a variable due to its size because it’s small enough to be ingested by sea life and it is. There are pieces of plastic being ingested by birds and fishes and other animals in the same ocean making it hard to get an accurate number of plastic in the ocean. With micro plastic starting to collect in the Hadal Trenches as well the amount may be more than that of the estimation. The article explains that there is plastic debris in the ocean with piles of plastic collected into a little island. All of this is important because with the limited information that the public knows of micro plastic, the Hadal Trenches being a place where plastic is stored, as well as sea life and already the tremendous amount of plastic in the ocean this is a recipe for disaster.

Impacts that plastic pollution has on marine life

It is clear that there is a lot of plastic pollution within the oceans all around the world, so much so that it is extremely unhealthy not only for the water itself but for the creatures and animals that live in these waters. All living things underwater are impacted by the plastic that is being thrown into their environments, but how? What exactly is going on down there? What are some of the dangers of this pollution?

There are about a million species of animals that live in our oceans worldwide, considering the fact that not even the majority of oceans haven’t been explored, there are even more plants and animals at risk that we do not even know about. Many plants in the ocean are being polluted due to all the plastics being thrown out, why is this significant? You may ask well most marine species rely on these plants as a source of food. We can see this in “Causes & Effects of Ocean Pollution” by the NOAA foundation, in the article it talks about marine life and how it is impacted by plastic pollution in one part of the text it states “Agricultural toxins can be direct biological hazards and raise ocean temperatures, which can be deadly for some animals and plants.” (NOAA, 2017) , basically in the quote it says that agricultural plastic pollution is one of the main reasons as to why plants are slowly dying underwater since the temperature in the water’s are rising, since all the plastics release toxins which lead to the water temperature increasing not making it habitable for the plants to grow there anymore. Later on in the article it also says “The overabundance of pollution has a variety of consequences. One is excess nitrogen and phosphorus. Although plants require these to grow, too high a concentration can cause algal blooms, in which algae overrun the ecosystem.” (NOAA, 2017), this quote basically gets into more detail from the last one, but the readers can see specifically why the plants are dying. In the quote it shows that not only do the plants get fed toxins but they also receive extreme amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus, which is good for the plants at certain levels but not the current levels.
The plants then connect to the animals because it is one of their main sources of food at the end of the day, and if the plants are canceled out of the food chain then along with it go most of the fish and other plant eating species within the oceans. Most animals in the oceans are known to consume the plastics that are thrown out, the plastics are not meant to be consumed by any kind of animals but due to the lack of plants/food most animals have to find something to eat, leading to many animals consuming plastic. One example of animals being impacted by the plastic pollution can be seen in Simon Reddy’s “Plastic Pollution Affects Sea Life throughout the Ocean.”, when Reddy states “Examples abound, from the gray whale that died after stranding near Seattle in 2010 with more than 20 plastic bags, a golf ball, and other rubbish in its stomach to the harbor seal pup found dead on the Scottish island of Skye, its intestines fouled by a small piece of plastic wrapper.” (Reddy, 2018), in the quote Mr. Reddy talks about a whale that was found ashore dead who has consumed a bunch of plastic items such as bags and balls and other things that aren’t meant to be eaten, things that Reddy calls “rubbish”. It just comes to show that so much waste is being poured out into the ocean that a whale consumes enough to kill itself, to put it in perspective whales are usually the length of a Grey whale is 39 ft. and For 20 plastic bags and a golf ball to kill it is insane. That means if fish that are 1 ft long such as a Striped Bass, were to consume 1/39th’s of what that whale ate it would automatically die due to the poisons and toxins within the plastics.

Something unexpected that not many people may know about is the fact that with the plastic pollution, not only does it impact the lives of living animals or the plant food of these animals but it also impacts their literal homes. Many smaller animals live within the plants as well such as the coral reefs but even those are being impacted by the plastic pollution within the waters all around the world. In the “Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Life in the Mediterranean Sea”, by Tomaso Fortibuoni and Aikaterini Anastasopoulou, the authors talk about the Mediterranean Sea and how every body of water is being impacted the same way the Mediterranean Sea is being impacted by all the plastic pollution. In the text it says “Plastics can affect marine organisms mainly through ingestion and entanglement but also through the facilitation of transport of organisms via rafting or the provision of new habitats for colonization. Impacts vary according to the type and size of the plastics and can occur at different levels of biological organization in a wide variety of habitats.” (Fortibuoni & Anastasopoulou, 2018), in this quote the authors talk about how the habitats and homes of the marine animals are being impacted by the plastics, many animals being caught up in the plastic that is in their homes. Later on in the text it talks about the homes being destroyed because of the toxins decomposing many plants that are used as homes and that leading to many habitats being destroyed for many sea animals.

Apart from plastics, oil spills are also a source of ocean pollution. Oil spills into rivers, bays, and oceans most often come about when oil tankers are involved in accidents that lead to a tank explosion. As much as these accidents have decreased over the recent years, the hazards of their pollution remain. In the article “Marine oil spill pollution causes and governance,” Chen et al. bring to the understanding that in addition to direct collisions of these tanks, oil tanker explosions are caused by faulty fuel tanks that are overweight, bad muffler systems that ignite, so apparently, the main factors that contribute to such accidents are due to human error. Fortunately, it is easier to rectify errors emanating from human beings and consequently curb ocean pollution through oil spillage. In their research, numerous ways have been fronted by Chen et al., such as infusion of technology in the management, supervision, and evaluation of vessels crew as well as marine equipment. Further, they advocate for improvement and enhancement of rules and regulations relating to navigational watch of the ships, to mention a few.

Nobody can run away from the fact that plastics form the most significant percentage among the ocean contaminators. Plastics’ enormous production is the critical facilitator that has made its effect the most massive one. These plastics pose a significant danger to marine life since they cause suffocation, resulting in the deaths of aquatic life (Gross & Enck, 2021). In a bid to reduce ocean pollution through plastic wastes, Gross & Enck (2021) highlights that only 9% of plastic waste is recycled and 12% is incinerated; thus, the rest of the waste pile up or enter into the environment, including oceans. Therefore, this means that if higher percentages of plastic
waste can be recycled or incinerated, the amount of plastic waste reaching oceans would drop drastically.

Additionally, ocean pollution resulting from plastic waste can be controlled by employing data-driven methods founded on policies, laws, technology and emphasize that aims to wipe out pollution sources. These strategies have been found to be effective by many countries in controlling water and air pollution. Similarly, they are believed they can also be deployed to eradicate ocean pollution. The attained successes are the epitome of demonstrating the feasibility of broader control (Landrigan et al., 2020). Thus, controlling ocean pollution through plastic waste can best be attained by narrowing down to the elimination of the root cause, which is plastic production.

A big question that people should ask themselves is how plastic wastes find their way into oceans, thus culminating in ocean pollution. The majority of oceans have rivers draining into them. Therefore, rivers are the notorious deliverer of plastic wastes into the oceans. Lebreton et al. (2017) confirm that the biggest chunk of plastic waste that enters the oceans is from the rivers. Through their research, they conducted, from 1.15 to 2.41 million tons comprised of plastic waste that goes into the ocean per year from the rivers. Also, according to Rhodes et al. (2018), the production of plastics is on the rise, with a production of 407 million tons of plastics in the year 2015. It has also been presumed that almost 9 million tons of plastics went into the ocean in 2010. Phelan et al. (2020) suggest that waste management is the best option of neutralizing waste before reaching rivers or other water bodies, which may culminate into ocean pollution. Besides, Phelan et al. (2020) also note that using other alternatives that are non-plastic is also an option for managing plastic waste. Biodegradable as well as environmentally friendly materials may be used to make containers and other things instead of plastics which, when they end up into the rivers once carried by rainwater or otherwise eventually reach the ocean.

                                                                                              Conclusion

Each year, we expose oceans to an increasing variety of pollutants such as plastic debris, oil spills and more. The purpose of this research was to educate people of the dirty truths about the ocean pollution and identify all the threats that cause it. Our research finds that plastic pollution is one of the horrific threats to our marine ecosystem. Roughly 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every year, and most of the plastic pollution in the ocean starts out of land. Apart from plastics, oil spills are a major polluter that is caused by ships involved in accidents. Our researches prove that factors that contribute to such accidents are quite complicated, with human factors playing a major part. Plastics and oil spills release toxins that lead to an increasing death of the aquatic life. Fortunately, it’s not too late to clean up our act. Based on our findings, we suggest the following aspects should be considered in the future: controlling ocean pollution through plastic waste, using non-plastic options or managing plastic waste to be recycled before eventually being carried into the ocean is the first step as an individual. Secondly, taking ship operations and factors that cause oil spills into consideration by infusion of technology in the management, supervision, and evaluation of vessels crew as well as marine equipment. Basically, trying to study the technical drainage matters for more effective post-event management of oil spill accidents. In conclusion, we must say that saving the ocean is a process twice as long as it took to become polluted, but with practical solutions, we can decrease the amount of pollutants that find their way into the ocean. By instructing ourselves on doing the right thing, we can slowly but surely make a difference.

References

 

The ocean’s ultimate trashcan: Hadal trenches as major depositories for plastic pollution. Shibboleth authentication request. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0043135419308954.

Making sense of microplastics? Public understandings of plastic pollution. Shibboleth authentication request. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0025326X20300266.

Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C. M., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., Galgani, F., Ryan, P. G., & Reisser, J. (n.d.). Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans: More than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea. PLOS ONE. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0111913&xid=17259%2C15700021%2C15700124%2C15700149%2C15700168%2C15700173%2C15700186%2C15700191%2C15700201#s3.

“How Ocean Pollution Impacts Marine Life-and All of Us.” MarineSafe, 23 Apr. 2018, http://www.marinesafe.org/blog/2016/04/18/how-ocean-pollution-impacts-marine-life-and-all-of-us/#:~:text=This%20sharp%20increase%20in%20plastic,can%20wipe%20out%20entire%20species.

Anastasopoulou, Aikaterini and Fortibuoni, Tomaso“Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Life in the Mediterranean Sea” – Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F698_2019_421.

Reddy, Simon. “Plastic Pollution Affects Sea Life throughout the Ocean.” The Pew Charitable Trusts, https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/09/24/plastic-pollution-affects-sea-life-throughout-the-ocean.

Chen, J., Di, Z., Shi, J., Shu, Y., Wan, Z., Song, L., & Zhang, W. (2020). Marine oil spill pollution causes and governance: A case study of Sanchi tanker collision and explosion. Journal of Cleaner Production, 273, 122978.

Landrigan, P. J., Stegeman, J. J., Fleming, L. E., Allemand, D., Anderson, D. M., Backer, L. C., … & Rampal, P. (2020). Human health and ocean pollution. Annals of global 

health, 86(1).

Lebreton, L. C., Van Der Zwet, J., Damsteeg, J. W., Slat, B., Andrady, A., & Reisser, J. (2017).

Rhodes, C. J. (2018). Plastic pollution and potential solutions. Science progress, 101(3), 207-260.