THE EFFECTS OF TRASH ON MARINE LIFE

The Effects of Trash on Marine Life

Mandi Blanton
Boise State

THE EFFECTS OF TRASH ON MARINE LIFE

The Effects of Trash on Marine Life

When many of us think of marine conservation, one of the first issues that instantly
spring to our minds is the cleanup effort involved with marine waste. Many important
government agencies such as the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), NOAA (National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and smaller state agencies like the California Coastal
Commission invest heavily in the cleanup of marine waste every year. However, the cost of
cleaning our oceans is astoundingly high. The NOAA estimates that in order to clean just one
percent of the North Pacific Ocean, the US would have to dish out five to twenty thousand
dollars a day over the course of one year almost four hundred and eighty nine million in total to
cover the cost of boat time alone, in order to clean up that one spot. (Marine debris is everyone's
problem, 2014) With the price of cleanup being as high as it is, its plain obvious to see why the
trash problem in our marine environments is continuing to escalate. This steady rise in debris is
continuing to affect the quality of water, as well as importantly, the health of nearly every known
aquatic species to man. But just what is it thats happening to these organisms, and how does its
reach affect us as well?
We must first start by understanding what it is thats going into our waters, and where
exactly its coming from. The EPA lists a variety of sources coming from both sea and land to be
a contribution to the problem, including but not limited to; municipal landfills, waste transport,
storm drain discharge, merchant shipping, fishing vessels, oil and gas platforms, and even
uncontrollable natural events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. (US EPA, 2014) The
NOAA states that the most common materials to be lost from sources such as these include
plastics, glass, metal, paper, cloth, rubber, and wood. (Marine debris is everyone's problem,
2014) Each of these poses its own different threat to marine life as well as the water quality itself,

THE EFFECTS OF TRASH ON MARINE LIFE

as many materials such as plastics, glass, rubber, and metal never fully biodegrade and instead
just continue to break down into smaller and smaller particles. Microplastics are the biggest
offender of oceanic pollution in this regard, theyre officially described by the NOAA as pieces
of plastic less than five millimeters long. (Marine debris is everyone's problem, 2014) These
are extremely dangerous to animals such as fish, as they are ingested and build up in the
digestive system. Making the organism feel full and essentially starving them. Larger pieces of
debris pose equally as much of a threat. The consumption of large debris can result in internal
injuries, and the EPA reports that large amounts of plastic can contain toxic substances which
may cause death or reproductive failure in fish, shellfish, and marine life. (US EPA, 2014)
Lost netting, fishing line, pop can rings, and other similar materials can also end up tangled
around the bodies of aquatic organisms. The California Coastal Commission states that over 200
species are affected in their state alone by trash which causes entanglement every year. (Explore
Your Coast, 2014) The most serious of which can cause immobility, feeding disability,
drowning, asphyxiation, and even serious injuries due to the slow constriction of the entangled
object as the animal grows (much like an embedded collar in a dog) - All of which can lead to
death. Immobile animals are not exempt from the havoc that that human waste can wreak on an
aquatic ecosystem. Plants, Coral, and other floor-dwelling organisms can be smothered by plastic
bags and netting which has broken off, or destroyed by vessels which humankind has sunk and
been drug along the bottom by currents. (US EPA, 2014) Large waste can also cause an
unforeseen problem on the land as well, invasive species can hitch a ride on floating debris and
find itself washed up in another area where it does not belong. The EPA states that in a study
performed by the British Antarctic Survey of 2002, large pieces of abandoned trash had had
caused an increase of almost 100% of invasive species in the subtropics. (US EPA, 2014)

THE EFFECTS OF TRASH ON MARINE LIFE

Effectively shooting ourselves in the foot, humankind is too affected by the repercussions of our
wasteful treatment of the worlds water supply. Beachgoers are often harmed by trash that has
washed up on shore, and tourism and fishing revenue take large economic impacts from the
amount of trash in our oceans and waterways. Due to the many forms of sea life which die yearly
from wastefulness, as well as the threat of costly repairs due to damage caused by debris in boat
motors, many small fisheries have gone out of business. (US EPA, 2014) Its hard for many of
us to admit, but should we continue to turn a blind eye to the amount of waste we dump into our
oceans and rivers every year, we may not have much of a fishing industry left within the coming
decades.
So is there anything we can do fix our trash problem? How can humankind change its
ways in order to create a better future for not only marine species, but for our own kin as well?
That, quite frankly, is a hard question to answer - but one that desperately needs a good solution.
Many important organizations such as the California Costal Commission have programs which
encourage use to use less waste, and hold programs such as Coastal Cleanup Day and Adopt-aBeach. (Explore Your Coast, 2014) However, stopping waste at its source is currently the most
important thing we can do in order to halt the continued dumping of refuse into the ecosystem.
Each of the organizations that have been previously mentioned each run and support a different
campaign to raise awareness about the trash problem, support education to prevent the flow of
waste, and programs that deal directly with cleaning up trash that has already made it into our
aquatic ecosystems. It is up to each of us individually to become informed of these resources and
understand just how important keeping our waters debris free is. By reading this, there is no
longer any excuse. So why arent you doing your part?

THE EFFECTS OF TRASH ON MARINE LIFE

Citations
Home | Water | US EPA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://water.epa.gov/

OR&R's Marine Debris Program | Marine debris is everyone's problem. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 7, 2014, from http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/

Explore Your Coast. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://www.coastal.ca.gov/