Scientists were eager to learn the cause of the baby sperm whale’s death when it washed up on a Spanish beach earlier this year.
After discovering over 30 kg of plastic within the whale’s stomach, they now think they know.
On February 27, a 10-meter-long whale was discovered on the sand in Cabo de Palos in the Murcia region of Spain. The whale was remarkably slender.
Sperm whales typically consume huge squid, octopus, tiny sharks, and other seafood, but this particular whale also consumed sacks of straw, plastic bags, ropes, nets, a drum line and a plastic water container.
Experts speculated that because the whale was unable to process or eliminate the trash from its body, it most likely died of a stomach illness.
The fact that sperm whales are regarded as an endangered* species adds to the heartbreak* of the killing. The World Wildlife Fund lists six of the thirteen great whale species as endangered or vulnerable*.
Now, a push to clean up Spain’s beaches and waters has been launched by local authorities.
Consuelo Rosauro, general director of environment for Murcia, stated that “the presence of plastic in the ocean and oceans is one of the greatest threats to the conservation of wildlife throughout the world, as many animals are trapped in the trash or ingest large quantities of plastics that end up causing their death,”
Approximately 150 million plastic tonnes are currently floating in our oceans, and an additional eight million tonnes are added to the water every year. Great Garbage Patches are contaminated places as a result of this.
GREAT GARBAGE PATCHES
Our seas are clogged by five large rubbish regions. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the North Pacific Garbage Patch, the Indian Ocean Garbage Patch, and the Mediterranean Garbage Patch are the names of them.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is located between Japan and America and is the closest to Australia, is best described as a large plastic soup that floats in the ocean like oil.
The following shocking details on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
- It is said to be the size of Queensland state.
- It contains six times more plastic than plankton, which is a major source of nutrition for a lot of marine life.
- Eighty percent of plastic comes from land, either blown into the ocean or floating in rivers, while twenty percent comes from ships and oil rigs.
- It is referred to by scientists as the world’s largest landfill.
- Small plastic fragments have been found in 5–10% of the fish at the Scrips Institution of Oceanography in California, according to scientific studies.
TEEN BOY CREATES THE OCEAN CLEANUP
In 2010, Boyan Slat, a 16-year-old Dutchman, was astonished to learn about the amount of plastic pollution in the water while on a diving trip in Greece.
He committed himself to tidying it up.
Along with a friend, Slat came up with the idea for a long barrier to be placed in the water to catch large pieces of passing plastic for a school science competition. They emerged victorious in that contest.
After two years, he pursued a degree in aeronautical engineering* at the university and kept researching plastic cleanups. Slat presented his ideas at a TEDx ideas conference shortly after enrolling in the school, and the video quickly gained international attention. He was aware that he had a good idea.
In 2013, he left college to start The Ocean Cleanup. After five years, Slat is still the founder and CEO of the company, with 70 paid employees.
The Ocean Cleanup aims to remove all plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years by deploying floating, 100km-long curved barriers constructed of high-density polyethylene and thermoplastic, both of which are environmentally acceptable materials.
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