plastic pollution

Tiny plastic pieces are spread throughout the deep sea

6 June, 2019

Source: National Geographic
Author: Laura Parker

For many years, scientists have tried to account for the amount of plastic waste that should be in the world’s oceans, given how much is estimated to leak into the seas every year. So far, the tally points to the largest concentrations on the surface and in coastal waters. But much of it remains “missing.”

And scientists can’t fully assess whatever harm plastics cause to the environment until they learn where they are. Now, new research off the California coast suggests an even larger plastics reservoir: deep offshore pelagic waters, the largest habitat on Earth.

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Study Suggests Deep-Sea Creatures Are Eating Plastic

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.”

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Novel ecosystems in the deep sea

24 October, 2018

Source: Ecologist
Author: Oliver Tickell

Innovative research is uncovering previously unknown species in deep seas vulnerable to over-fishing, pollution and habitat destruction.

Oceans researcher and campaigner Alex Rogers first experienced the full visual impact of ocean plastic pollution in 2015: “I was diving in Honduras in 2015 at Utila in the Bay Islands and there were all these beautiful coral reefs, but as we came around the island we were faced with a raft of rubbish stretching out as far as you could see: plastic bottles, expanded polystyrene, fibreglass, every kind of human waste you could imagine … I have never witnessed such a huge quantity of debris. It was horrific.”

Not that it was his first brush with ocean plastic. That had come three years earlier, when he and his team were exploring seamounts in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Antarctica.

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Macro- and microplastics affect cold-water corals growth, feeding and behaviour

17 October, 2018

Source: Nature
Author: L. Chapron, E. Peru, A. Engler, J. F. Ghiglione, A. L. Meistertzheim, A. M. Pruski, A. Purser, G. Vétion, P. E. Galand & F. Lartaud

Plastic contamination is now recognized as one of the most serious environmental issues for oceans. Both macro- and microplastic debris are accumulating in surface and deep waters. However, little is known about their impact on deep marine ecosystems and especially on the deep-sea reefs built by emblematic cold-water corals. The aim of this study was to investigate whether plastics affected the growth, feeding and behaviour of the main engineer species, Lophelia pertusa. Our experiments showed that both micro- and macroplastics significantly reduced skeletal growth rates. Macroplastics induced an increased polyp activity but decreased prey capture rates. They acted as physical barriers for food supply, likely affecting energy acquisition and allocation.

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

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.

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