sea life endangerment continued
A great conflict in marine life survival looms. This is an area that concerns me greatly. While I've sounded the alarm about coral, there are other species that are just as important. The sea turtle is one. They may not be as continuously extensive, but they have a unique design and beauty all their own! In addition, these turtles have very long lives.
A surprising entrant on the list of endangerment is the Northern Fulmar. It's surprising to see a bird on the list. This one is special however, It has a fossil record indicating non survivability and evidence suggests current species are just as susceptible to extinction.
The ironic thing here is plastics in many instances are a petroleum by product. They are derived from oils!. A refinement is fouling the earth much as the native material that is drawn from it.
There is no limit to the extent of this pollution. It affects the ocean both in area and in depth. The corals and sea turtles ply the mid and southern latitudes. Likewise Northern Fulmar makes its habitat in the north Sea. As for depth, you guessed it. One foreign object was found at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. A large plastic bag!
I can remember the errors that have been made with manufactured materials. Remember the foam packaging of the late 20th century. Who can forget the puffy, crunchy Filet O Fish containers and other packaging of McDonald' styrofoam fame? Styrofoam contains much the same poisons as plastic.
Now a different form of light corrugated cardboard advertised as from recycled materials has come to the forefront.
It was unmistakably proved the ozone hole over the South Pole was linked to this type of material in the environment. The eliminations and relegation of the ozone hole to history is a showcase for all of to see in our lifetimes.
We can and successfully have done it! Pollution has been stopped in its tracks and reversed. I am proud of the initiative mentioned in this article. If every deep sea diver were to carry a net and haul out packages, the ocean pollution problem can also be stopped, one package at a time!
Recent Comments
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Good Morning Mike,
On both my websites I write about this very serious problem. Recently about the Mediterranean Sea which is suffering big pollution. Worldwide there are all kinds of positive movements to stop this plastic overload but if it will be enough and come on time is still a question mark.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Hi Mike, it is pretty darn sad. We are killing the things that keep us alive. For what our own selfishness. Thank you for sharing this very important message.
Michael
As a collector of beach fossils, my mantra is "Leave it better than you find it!" Every trip to the beach I pick up trash and debris left behind by the careless and uncaring and put it in the trash bins the others walk right by.
We don't use plastic straws either. You'd be surprised at how many wash up on shore at the beach. More and more restaurants around our area have started using paper straws now.
Bottom line, if everyone does a little to help, it won't solve the problem in the short term but it will have an impact over time. Everyone has a part to do and you don't have to be an environmental whacko to participate.
I agree that ocean plastic pollution is really terrible. When I lived on the homestead, it was a daily chore to go down and clean all the debris off the beach. At least I could do my little bit that way.
Good afternoon my friend, our Waters have been in this condition for decades, and no one has done anything, no country, to the point of turning it around. Our planet is becoming a garbage dump from one pole to the other. It is a shame the way we treat Mother Earth.
Yes, we have helped with ocean clean-ups. It is a duty and responsibility as divers. Unfortunately, there are not enough scuba divers to eradicate the problem. People must stop dumping their trash on the beach.
We are already on schedule to assist with more underwater clean-ups on the Yucatan coast.
This is such an important topic and we thank you for writing about it.
That's great guys and that you'll be able to help in both oceans. The Galapagos should be taken from Ecuador and made a World Heritage Site!
In fact, it is a UNESCO world heritage site! It is so very highly protected.
Love that you care about our oceans, Mike. xoxo
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This is something that should concern us all, in the local paper the other day was a comment about anglers leaving traces and other stuff on the river bank, causing harm to the wildlife, thought that we had managed to stop that, seems that I was wrong. But thanks for a great post Mike,
Stuart