Tag: seas

bookmark_borderBounty of the Sea: More Plastic Than Fish?

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The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum, in a report called The New Plastics Economy  (which looks at the amount of plastic that ends up in the sea) claims there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. “If we continue dumping plastic in the sea at the present rate, measured by weight, there will be more plastic than fish by 2050.”

The study examines just one area – San Francisco Bay. “If that’s not representative of the rest of the globe then you can see the potential for large deviations in this calculation,” says Prof Callum Roberts from the University of York.

Plastic Vs. Fish in the Ocean
Plastic Vs. Fish in the Ocean

The Human Induced Climate Change Experiment

bookmark_borderBottom Of The Ocean Trashed

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by Daniel Brouse

EARTH — How much of the Earth have humans polluted? Scientists sent robots to the bottom of the ocean… deeper than man has ever explored. The findings are disturbing.

“We often think deep-sea trenches are remote and pristine, untouched by humans,” says Alan Jamieson, a deep-ocean researcher at the University of Aberdeen, UK. “It’s even higher than in the estuaries of two of the most polluted rivers — the Pearl River and the Liao River — in China.”

“Crustaceans at depths of 10,000 metres contain higher concentrations of chemicals than do some animals in coastal waters.”

The small animals retrieved from the ocean’s bottom contained PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls used to make plastics and as anti-fouling agents to stop barnacles from growing on ships’ hulls), as well as, flame retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PBDEs).

“It’s really surprising to find pollutants so deep in the ocean at such high concentrations,” said Jeffrey Drazen, a marine ecologist at the University of Hawaii.

The findings raise concern about how microbial activities are adversely affected, the impact on the carbon cycle and climate change.