Ocean Pollution- Looking Towards A Brighter Future
When
going into an aquarium, what is your favorite animal to see? Turtles, bright
colored fish, dolphins, eels, whales, and sharks are amazing animals that are
great to see in an aquarium. They look peaceful, happy and healthy swimming
around in their tanks. It would be nice to think that they are also that way in
the ocean. However this is not the case anymore. It is all too familiar seeing
turtles caught in plastic bags, or fish washed up on the shore with part of an
old net wrapped around its body. Ocean pollution has become the main cause of
death in marine animals due to people littering its surface with trash.
Littering is a huge part of ocean pollution and does
a great deal of damage to many animals that inhabit the oceans waters. Plastic
bags, plastic rings that hold soda cans together, old nets, cigarette butts,
fast food packages and straws are common items that pollute the oceans waters.
These items are terrible for marine life and cause deadly problems. “Scientists
estimate that there is one hundred million metric tons of plastic debris in the
ocean” (1). This is harmful for marine animals because they easily ingest the
plastic debris. “Birds, turtles, and fish ingest a variety of plastic items and
their digestive systems become clogged” (1). Once their digestive systems are
clogged it becomes incredibly difficult for them to ingest real food making
them starve.
In the picture above you can see a sea turtle eating a plastic bag. This is common for sea turtles to do because they do not know the difference between a jellyfish and a plastic bag. “Sea turtles are especially attracted to floating plastic bags which appear to be jellyfish, one of their favorite treats” (1). Once the turtles ingest the plastic bag it blocks the digestive system causing a very slow and painful death (1).
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