Learn about the effects our trash has on our marine and wild life. Learn what you can do to help them. This page will give information about the animals and the risks that have befallen them.
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Sea Turtles rely on seaweed for a food force.
What's wrong with this picture?
Bluntly, Litter can harm and kill animals! For example, they can get their heads trapped in glass jars and metal cans when trying to lick out the contents. Always rinse them out. Put the lids back on jars and crush metal and plastic food containers before recycling them. Yogurt containers are especially dangerous to animals because of the unusual shape. If you use this product, make sure you crush the container before recycling. Better yet make sure that these things are secure in your recycle bins for pick up days and best put out the morning of the pickup day. To leave garbage and recyclables attract animals that unfortunately don't know better. Bears, raccoons and birds are just a few animals that can get into your trash and be harmed.
It’s not just cans and jars that can hurt animals. Animals can get entangled and killed or maimed in fishing lines that have been discarded carelessly. They can get lead poisoning from eating lead sinkers that fishermen throw away. They can get mercury poisoning from batteries that are carelessly tossed out. Don’t ever throw food or litter out of a car window. It attracts animals to the road where they can be killed or injured by other cars. Don’t break glass jars and bottles in the street. Broken glass can hurt animals and people too. There is no excuse not to throw away your litter in the appropriate receptacle and not on the ground or in the water. Everyone should know better. Laziness and inconsideration are not acceptable reasons to litter.
Impacts on Aquatic Animals—Entanglement and Ingestion
Aquatic debris can be particularly dangerous and often lethal to wildlife. Each year, more than 100,000 marine mammals die when they ingest debris or become entangled in ropes, fishing line, fishing nets, and other debris dumped into the ocean. As many as 2 million seabirds also die every year due to debris ingestion and entanglement. Fishing line, fishing nets, strapping bands, and six-pack rings can hamper the mobility of aquatic animals. Once entangled, animals have trouble eating, breathing, or swimming, all of which can have fatal results.
- According the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), marine debris threatens over 265
different species of marine and coastal wildlife through entanglement,
smothering, and interference with digestive systems.
- About one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals (including 30,000 seals) and turtles are killed by plastic marine litter every year, around the world
- Worldwide, at least 143 marine species are known to have become entangled in marine debris (including almost all of the world's sea turtles) and at least 177 marine species (including most sea birds) to have eaten plastics and other litter.
This seaweed was washed up on shore with all of this litter already in it.
Under the Sea What effects litter has on it's animals.
On the surface
Animals are attracted to natural items on the sea's surface for food and shelter. Man-made litter can resemble natural food items and many species are known to eat litter, which can be lethal. The litter itself may be toxic to marine species, and studies have shown that plastic materials can actually attract and pick up (adsorb) pollutants from the environment, too. Unlike natural material plastics may never biodegrade, and will last for a very long time. Animals can easily become entangled in some forms of litter.
Animals and plants living attached to
litter items may be transported thousands of miles by ocean currents
to new areas. This can introduce 'alien' species (non
native invasive animals and plants) to new areas. Recent
research suggests that the quantity of plastic marine debris, on a
global scale, is increasing the risk of alien species colonizing new places.
In the water column
Most litter items floating in the water column will have come from the sea's surface where they have become colonized (fouled) by algae (seaweeds) and encrusting animals. As the weight of the litter grows, it sinks below the surface and into the water column. Although it is very difficult to say what effect the litter will have, it is likely that it will then have similar effects to those on the surface - ingestion, toxicity, entanglement. The litter will however come into contact with different animal species which live in the water column. Gradually as it increases in weight and becomes less buoyant, it will sink to the sea floor.
On the seabed
There is less known about impacts on the seabed as it is difficult to study - but what little is known is worrying. Animals living on the surface of the seabed can be smothered by litter blocking out light and nutrients (Galgani et al, 2000). Larger items can be dragged around the seabed by currents scraping and tearing up the seabed - imagine the damage that could be caused to a coral reef (Laist, 1997).
A trawl across the Mediterranean Sea in 1997 trawled up over 300 million pieces of trash from depths up to 2,550 meters (Beach watch 2004, MCS). MCS studies have shown that beach litter is increasing and globally litter is on the increase - so this it likely to be true of the seabed.
Artificial Reefs
Large amounts of waste materials (such as redundant ships, aircraft, oil platforms) are disposed of at sea around the world, either through accidents or deliberately. These structures can rapidly become inhabited by animal species, and may become a new site for reef building species. The long term impacts of disposing large waste items at sea are not fully understood and require further investigation before reefs can be recommended as a valid reason or "excuse" for dumping certain wastes.
