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Marine Litter – The Challenges?

Updated: Jul 6, 2023

Abstract

The piece, "Marine Litter - The Challenges" addresses the issue of marine litter, its impact on the environment, marine life, and the economy. The article highlights incidents like the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" and the presence of plastic waste in marine animals. Efforts have been made through initiatives like International Coastal Cleanup Day and the IMPAC5 congress, along with projects targeting fishing and shipping industries. The article emphasizes the importance of implementing strategies, raising awareness, and taking urgent action at individual and national levels to combat marine litter effectively.

Marine litter, as defined by UNEP, is any persistent, manufactured, or processed solid material discarded, disposed of, or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment. This litter can be categorised under two headings: microplastics and macroplastics. The former includes plastic of >5 mm, and the latter is larger than that. Now the question comes: why do we need protection rules and laws for marine life, and are we doing something against the environment? The answer to this question is a big "yes." In the present scenario, the concern should not be just for providing safe drinking water to humans but also for the fact that the plastic waste discharged into marine bodies is a kill pill for marine life. The consequences of marine litter can be felt not only on the environment and the health of living beings but also have an economic impact as they affect a country’s tourism and fishing industries. This includes the waste discharged by ships as well.

But where lies the problem, and what went wrong? According to the Natural History Museum, the three huge threats faced by marine life are overfishing, pollution, and climate change. All are the result of human interference with marine life.

The best example to start this discussion would be with the revelation that there is an island made up of plastic, and that too is twice the size of Texas. This achievement of shame is named the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. Another shocking news story came on December 3, 2019, when a whale was found dead with 100 kg of litter balls in its stomach. A report by the United Nations Development Programme says that up to 12.7 million metric tonnes of plastic waste made its way into the ocean in just one year, and some scientists have warned that by 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean will outweigh the fish. If this continues, then there will be more plastic in the water than fisheries there. According to the research carried out by Shocking Ocean Pollution Statistics 2020–21, 100 million marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone. The report also says that 70% of the debris sinks into the ocean’s ecosystem, 15% floats, and 15% is what we see on the beaches. This indicates that 70% of the waste in the oceans is never taken out and sinks with the marine life, threatening the beauty of the oceans.

In such an alarming situation, are the countries taking no steps to address this issue? Well, there have been steps taken. International Coastal Cleanup Day is observed globally on September 17. The recently held 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5), which aims to safeguard 30% of our global ocean by 2030, was also an attempt in this direction. Also, institutions like the IMO have implemented an action plan in 2018 and, in 2021, approved a strategy to limit ship discharge to zero by 2025. The Joint FAO/IMO Ad Hoc Working Group is also one such partnership. They had also launched the GloLitter project in 2019 to reduce marine litter and decrease the use of plastic in the fishing and shipping industries. India as a nation has also played its part by launching a coastal clean-up drive under the Swachh Sagar Surakshit Sagar campaign in 2022 under the Union Ministry of Earth and Sciences.

Although there are a number of steps taken both on a national and international level, forming a strategy and executing it are two different things. To seriously tackle this problem, we need the sincere implementation of the strategies so far formulated, coupled with the spread of awareness among people. We must recognise that the environment is paramount, and if human negligence persists, the results will not be favourable to us. More floating plastic than fish in the ocean is not something we want to see. The cycle of ecological equilibrium would be disturbed by the sea species' alarmingly high mortality rate. Although cleaning up beaches is a welcome move, this alone will not solve the issue. This waste needs to be quickly wrapped up and sent out of the water bodies with the idea of sustainable development and a sense of human unity. Now, it is high time for action, both as an individual and as a nation.


Image Source: http://surl.li/hwhnv


References


‘Will the ocean really be dead in 50 years?, ‘Natural History Museum’ by Pavid Katie, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/will-the-ocean-really-die.html



‘Fighting for Trash Free Seas’, Ocean Conservancy, https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/


‘Congress Details’, IMPAC5, https://www.impac5.ca/congress-details/

‘Marine Litter’, International Maritime Organization, https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/marinelitter-default.aspx


‘GloLitter Partnerships Project’, International Maritime Organization, https://www.imo.org/en/ourwork/partnershipsprojects/pages/glolitter-partnerships-project-.aspx


‘Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar/Clean Coast Safe Sea’, Ministry of Earth Sciences, https://moes.gov.in/about-us-0?language_content_entity=en


*This article is authored by Shreya Doneriya & Shrestha Mishra, Students from Symbiosis Law School, Noida and reviewed by Yavisth Makkar, Student from Symbiosis Law School, Noida.

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