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ecology

09.05.2004

humans dumping plastic in the seas

“A new study suggests that microscopic bits of plastic have sifted, unseen, throughout the marine environment. The plastic not only litters the beach, it is - like fine bits of sand - becoming the beach.”
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To gauge long-term trends, the scientists examined plankton samples collected over the past 40 years in shipping lanes between Iceland and Scotland. Results showed there was approximately three times more plastic in the water column in the 1990s compared with the 1960s.”
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“ The impact of larger plastic flotsam on marine wildlife is well documented. According to the U.K.'s Marine Conservation Society, a national environmental nonprofit, more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles die globally each year from entanglement in, or ingestion of, plastics.”
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“ ...the mass of plastic fragments in parts of the central Pacific Ocean is six times greater than that of resident plankton.”

And more. This is an informative short article deserves a scan.

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