[Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice for Tomorrow 4. The Last Countdown For Sustainable Marine Ecosystem

Ocean, covering 70% of the Earth surface, controls the world’s climate, and is a habitat for hundreds of species, a major source of proteins for 3.3 billion humans as well as a place many of them depending on for their living. However, reckless development and the increase of consumption, wastewater from urban and plants, soil contamination from chemical uses, dumping waste from vessels and planes, and oil spills from ship collisions have made our ocean sick. This not only brings a great threat to the diversity of marine creatures and ecosystem, but also harms human health, and affects community economies including fisheries and tourism.

Plastic waste especially has been blamed for the worst cause of marine pollution. Then, how does this waste enter the ocean, and how does it affect the ecosystem? Let’s take a close look at the seriousness and think about what we should do to solve the problem!

 

Plastic packaging flowing into the ocean and abandoned fishing gear

How does plastic waste generated from land end up in the ocean? According to the Roland Geyer team’s report published on [Science Advances], the total plastic amount that has been produced so far is 8.3 billion tons and 79% of it was either sent to landfill or abandoned unguard. Due to a lack of waste management system and regulations, the waste flows into local water supplies, to a river, and finally to the ocean.

 

A recent report published at <Nature Sustainability>.by the researchers at Cadiz University in Spain says that 80% of the waste flown into the ocean is made of plastic. Among them, takeout food and drink containers contribute the most, consisting of 44% of the entire marine waste.

Meanwhile, fishing gear is another type of plastic waste that is posing a threat to the marine ecosystem. Ghost gear refers to the ones that have been abandoned or lost in the ocean and based on the report [Stop Ghost Gear: The most deadly form of marine plastic debris] published by WWF last October states that it takes up about 10% of the total marine waste. It also shows that 640,000 tons of fishing waste are lost in the ocean annually.

Korea is also facing a serious marine pollution problem. Korean Marine Environment Management Corporation conducted a monitoring on coastal garbage and it turns out the marine litter recovered from the national coastal regions sums up to 138,000 tons and plastic takes up 86.1% of all. It is also noted that Styrofoam buoy is responsible for 31.7%.

 

How plastic affects marine pollution

The plastic waste and abandoned fishing gear endanger every creature in the ocean and we can find evidence that shows how directly this marine litter affects human life and living as well.

1) Collapse of marine ecosystem

In fact, more than 100,000 marine mammals lose their lives because of plastic waste every year, for floating plastic bags are often mistaken as their main diets, jellyfish or squids. There are many cases reported that they get seriously hurt and die from ghost gear, too.

In addition, undersea plastic is a great threat to plankton, one of the very bases of the food chain in the marine ecosystem. For example, Prochlorococcus known as the tiniest marine organism is phytoplankton that produces 20% of the oxygen the world needs through photosynthesis. Based on the report published by the researchers of Macquarie University, however, the marine plastic litter significantly prevents the plankton’s growth and photosynthesis, causing a lack of oxygen after all.

Moreover, plastic waste could emit toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, and mercury and some of them even contain DEHP(Diethlhexyl phthalate) and BPA(Bisphenol-A) which highly increase the possibility of cancers and a baby with deformation, deteriorate immune system and development of an infant’s reproductive organs, and decreases sperm counts. Planktons ingest these microplastics which are degraded by ultraviolet rays, seawater, and marine organism and we need to take it more seriously as this could be closely linked to our health, too.

2) Ocean acidification

When the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere increases, the ocean absorbs it to make a balance between the air and the ocean. However, industrialization increased the level of carbon dioxide too much and this results in ocean acidification.

When there is too much CO2 dissolving into the ocean, the marine creatures made of calcium carbonate such as clams, conch, and corals are difficult to grow and their shells may even meltdown. Coral reefs and shells are common habitats for small fish that consequences of the acidification may have a great influence on the food chain and marine industry.

3) Sea temperature rising

Excessive use of coal fuels due to plastic production increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and causes global warming, which is led to temperature rise in seawater. This change disrupts fish’s central nervous system and could cause mass death. Moreover, fish may leave their previous habitats and is likely to be a cause of the decrease in the catch. The mass death reported from fish farms is also closely connected to the issue.

 

In addition, the sea temperature rise is the main cause of bleaching of coral reefs, which is known to be a home for many sea creatures. In fact, the world’s biggest coral colony and known as the rainforest in the ocean Great Barrier Reef in Australia has lost 30% already. As the coral reef is in a symbiotic relationship with a lot of marine creatures and plays an important role to protect the coastal regions from typhoons or corrosion, many experts believe that urgent measurement is required.

4) Economic loss in fisheries and tourism

<source: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/waste/when-oceans-fill-apart-60629>

Marine pollution has cost great loss on fishery and tourism industries as well. 12% of the world’s GDP is from tourism and 80% of it is closely linked to coastal areas. Especially, tourism is often the main source of income for many developing countries. However, the plastic pollution and ocean acidification made such places lose their tourism resources. According to the report [Marine Litter: Socio-Economic Study] issued by the UN, the economic loss of tourism in APEC regions only is estimated to be around 622 million dollars due to marine pollution.

The fisheries also experience the decline for changes and reduction of fish and for many of vessels collision due to ghost gear. Tourists stop visiting the seashore covered with plastic waste and the seafood contaminated by microplastic and its hazard is reported every day that the loss in such industries is expected to keep increasing.

 

World’s effort to recover our blue ocean

The world has been suffering from unprecedented climate change including heavy rains and heatwaves. Many parts of western Europe, China, and Indonesia were drowned while people in North America have lost their homes and even lives due to a cruel temperature reaching around 50℃ and frequent wildfire. The abnormal climate has become every country’s top priority to solve and unnecessary plastic, which is blamed to be a major cause of marine pollution, is initially targeted to eliminate. Therefore, many countries including the EU started to take active actions such as banning certain disposable plastic items or imposing taxes.

Governments and organizations also work to solve the environmental issues caused by ghost gear. In Canada, they launched Ghost Gear Fund in 2019 and started the ‘Fishing Gear Reporting System’ which helps fisherman find their lost fishing gear. GGGI(Global Ghost Gear Initiative) founded in 2015 works with 18 countries including the US, UK, and the Netherlands to recycle gear and develop the markets for them as well as to recover abandoned gear from major habitats of marine creatures.

The Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries also tries various attempts to solve marine pollution. Considering 88.3% of the domestic marine little consists of fishing gear and buoy, they introduced a deposit system on the gear with a high loss rate, aims to replace all the buoy with more sustainable ones by 2024, and seek various ways to collect marine waste.

Civil organizations also began voluntary environmental campaigns such as plogging and beachcombing to restore the marine environment.

It’s not late yet.

According to the Ellen Mac Arthur foundation’s report, there will be 937 million tons of plastic in the ocean with fish of 895 million tons by the year 2050 if the plastic pollution keeps increasing at this rate. It is clear that the marine pollution issue cannot be solved and shouldn’t be relied on a certain country or company. Don’t we all agree that we should prevent the ocean from having more plastic waste floating than fish for our next generation?

Then, how can we help the vast ocean to recover from contamination? The answer is simpler than you may have expected: it is the reduction of carbon dioxide. Each of us needs to bear a little inconvenience, eat the right amount, and tries to save the resource. Companies change from coal fuels to renewable energy and develop and design sustainable products accordingly. Each country needs to establish systems and infrastructure that are most suitable for its region.

If we who appreciate beautiful nature now work together with responsibility, our ocean shall be able to find its beauty and abundance.

We are not late, just yet.