A four decade research of global analysis of ocean plastics pollution has revealed a rapid increase in ocean plastics.
The research which was between 1979 and 2019 reveals an unprecedented increase in ocean plastics since 2005, according to a study published March 8, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Marcus Eriksen.
In the study, the researchers looked at data on ocean-surface-level plastic pollution collected between 1979 and 2019 from 11,777 stations across six marine regions (North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Mediterranean).
After accounting for wind, site selection, and biases due to under-sampling, the authors’ model showed a significant and rapid increase since 2005 of the global ocean abundance and distribution of plastics in the ocean surface layer. An estimated 82–358 trillion plastic particles (mean = 171 trillion plastic particles, primarily microplastics), weighing between 1.1 and 4.9 million tons (mean = 2.3 million tons) were afloat in 2019. A relative lack of data from 1979–1990 prevented trend analysis during this period, while between 1990 and 2004 plastic levels showed fluctuations with no clear trend.
Though these results are biased towards trends in the North Pacific and North Atlantic, where the majority of the data was collected, Eriksen and co-authors suggest the rapid increase from 2005 reflects the global growth of plastic production, or changes in waste generation and management.
Without widespread policy changes, the researchers predicts the rate at which plastics enter our waters will increase approximately 2.6 times by 2040. They call for urgent legally binding international policy intervention to minimize the ecological, social, and economic harm of aquatic plastic pollution.
“We’ve found an alarming trend of exponential growth of microplastics in the global ocean since the millennium, reaching over 170 trillion plastic particles. This is a stark warning that we must act now at a global scale. We need a strong, legally binding UN Global Treaty on plastic pollution that stops the problem at the source.” Eriksen, co-founder and researcher from The 5 Gyres Institute, said.
Warnings from scientists
As millions of tons a year of microplastic waste mounts in marine environments, too little is known, and done, to tackle rising risks of plastic waste.
Flinder University scientists warns of the impact of the contamination and the grave effects to wildlife, food webs and human health in review of how plastic waste and their associated chemicals impact marine food webs, published in Environmental Pollution.
According to them, It can take hundreds of years for plastics to degrade, with synthetic byproducts breaking into ever smaller particles through hydrolosis of hydrocarbons by microbes and exposure to environmental conditions.
These plastics of various sizes pose a substantial risk to life forms right down the food web, says Flinders University College of Science and Engineering Ph.D. candidate Elise Tuuri, from the Plankton and Marine Microbiology Lab at Flinders.
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“This study highlights the complexity of microplastics as a pollutant and how this can lead to difficulties in determining accurate impacts to human health and local marine environments,” she says.
“We know that large plastic debris can directly result in the death of larger marine organisms, through entanglement, strangulation, choking and starvation through ingestion, while smaller organisms can filter the water and ingest smaller plastic debris.
“As well, from laboratory-based studies we know this affects sea animals’ feeding behavior and reproductive outputs and can cause developmental anomalies, changes in gene expression, tissue inflammation and the inhibition of growth and development to both adults and their offspring.
“However, the impact of micro- and nano-plastics to marine organisms in the environment are still relatively poorly understood and are considered a hidden threat.”
Plastic is a complex contaminant due to the diversity in sizes, shapes, polymer compositions and chemical additives which also could variously impact specific marine species.
The researchers call for more research into plastic contamination and synthetic additives to understand and prevent further potential environmental and biological health problems.
“Marine microbes dictate the flow of energy and nutrients but we do not know how plastics and their associated leachates affect microbial life at the base of the marine food chain,” says co-author Professor Sophie Leterme, from the ARC ITTC for Biofilm Research and Innovation at Flinders University.
“Studies have found that plastic pollution has a direct impact on bacterial growth, protein production, the acquisition effect of major primary producers phosphorous and nitrogen-fixing rates, photosynthesis and genome wide changes, so we need to understand what chemical additives do to macrophytes, phytoplankton, zooplankton and microbes in the sea.”
Researchers tested the presence of additives (HBCD = 1,2,5,6,9,10-hexabromocyclododecane, DEHP = Dioctyl-phthalate), and polymer type (PE = polyethylene, PP = polypropylene, PVC = poly-vinyl chloride, PS = polystyrene) in a range of marine microbes and phytoplankton and found reduced growth and photosynthesis in most of the samples.
High concentrations of microplastics were also found in suspension and filter feeders such as oysters which readily ingest plastic particles.
While the negative consequences of plastic litter has been shown in laboratory tests, the impact of plastics on environmental communities is less researched and concentrations present in the marine environment need to be understood to accurately evaluate the effect on vital food webs and possible implications for human health, the article concludes.
“Future research must consider the effect of plastic waste size, shape, chemical additives, polymer composition and concentrations on marine organisms and entire ecosystems to deliver appropriate scientific advice and change industry, community and other public activities to curb the environmental damage caused by marine plastic pollution.”
