Ton of plastic waste found in the Mediterranean Sea – N4K

It is known that plastic debris greatly in a negative way affects the lives of fish, birds, whales and turtles. Scientists have warned on the eve of the international community that in the Mediterranean accumulates a large amount of plastic waste. About a thousand tons of plastic floating on the surface of the sea – packaging, bottles and bags.

In the case of the Mediterranean need to take into account its diversity and economic importance that clearly does not fit with the pollution of water bodies, Spanish scientists explain in their study. Recently, plastic fragments in their stomachs began to find turtles, whales, fish and birds. Very small pieces of plastic were found in mussels and oysters, which were caught on the coast of northern Europe.

“We see the Mediterranean Sea as a zone in which accumulated a huge amount of plastic waste,” – said Kosar of the University Address Cadiz in Spain.

“Marine pollution by plastic only half a century after the widespread use of this material has become a problem of global scale, requires the development of strategies to combat this problem,” – said Kosar.

In addition to the Mediterranean Sea, plastic waste accumulate also in the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean and on its south, and the South Atlantic. A huge amount of plastic previously been found in other seas, including the Barents Sea, the Arctic, South China and the Bay of Bengal.