marine pollution

27 March, 2019

Source: USA News
Author: Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder

For the first time, researchers have found microplastics in creatures that reside in the deepest parts of Earth’s oceans.

Researchers believe the discovery, outlined in a study published last month in the Royal Society Open Science journal, means that “it is highly likely there are no marine ecosystems left that are not impacted by plastic pollution.”

Continue reading Study Suggests Deep-Sea Creatures Are Eating Plastic

3 October, 2018

Source: Nippon.com
Author: Chiba Sanae

The impact of human activity, namely our heavy reliance on single-use plastic products, has reached even the deepest depths of the ocean. Recently, I helped publish “Human Footprint in the Abyss,” the first-ever paper documenting the extent of plastic pollution in marine environments at depths greater than 6,000 meters. The project involved researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and the UN World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and was based in part on findings from JAMSTEC’s Deep-Sea Debris Database. Launched in 2017, the database compiles images and videos taken from 1982 through 2015, during 5,010 dives to depths of more than 100 meters, by deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles.

Continue reading Shopping Bags in the Abyss: Addressing the Deep-Sea Plastic Crisis