Marine Debris

Marine debris is a major problem in today’s world as it threatens the environmental health in different ways. The three main factors are entanglement, small surface debris and Photo degradation. All these factors contribute to the detriment of the environment and to the killing and suffering of animals. 

One of the three ways in which marine debris threatens the environment is entanglement. Entanglement is caused by old fishing nets which are floating in the ocean and entangle seals, turtles, and many other marine animals such as sharks, dolphins or fish and cause thousands of animal lives every year. Furthermore, in modern times more and more fishing nets are made out of plastic and are able to float on sea for many months or even years.

Small surface debris is another factor, which contributes to the detriment of the environment. Small surface debris is made out of many small pieces of plastic, which are used in industries and are transported by ship across the oceans. Many of these plastic particles are lost in the oceans or spilled out by factories together with other waste into the ocean. These plastic particles eventually photo degrades after some years however, before they tend to do so birds or fish because of their bright colors often eats them. These plastic particles cause great harm or often even death to the animals that have eaten the plastic. 

The third factor, which threatens the environmental health, is Photo degradation. Photo degradation, takes place when debris is broken down by sun light and ends up to become a thickened layer of plastic at the water surface. This is very harmful for the environment as the plastic particles contain a lot of chemicals, which contain harmful toxins. The plastic particles including the chemicals often enter the food chain due to marine animals ingesting the plastic pieces.