Ocean Plastic Pollution: A Global Tragedy for Our Oceans and Sea Life

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25 Sept. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

With this website, I wanted to take the focus off of marine life, and shed some light on how plastic in the ocean, in turn, effects us as well. This great website talks about all of the textile plastic debris that is constantly being found in the fish we consume. According to this website, a team of students from the University Of California conducted a study by examining 76 different fish with 12 different species from the California Coast, and 76 fish containing 11 different species that they obtained from the coast of Indonesia. They concluded that 55% of the 76 fish examined from Indonesia contained plastic debris, while 67% of the 76 fish from the California coast contained plastic debris. They concluded that the fish found on the CA coast contained more textile plastics, while the fish from Indonesia contained more actual plastic pieces.

This website also discusses how recycling is done differently here in the US (specifically CA) versus recycling in Indonesia and sheds light onto why we have more textile plastics released into the ocean, and why they have more plastic pieces being released into the ocean.

They concluded that because Indonesia has a less advanced waste management system, more actual plastic pieces are making their way into our oceans. On the other hand, they concluded that more textile plastics are making their way into the oceans from the US due to our high usage of washing machines.

Milman, Oliver. “Corals Face ‘slow starvation’ From Ingesting Plastics Pollution.” The Guardian. The Guardian News and Media, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2016

I chose this website because it strictly talks about how micro plastics (small plastics) effect coral reefs. According to a study done by James Cook University, they found that corals consume plastic at about the same rate as they consume food. What is even more startling is the fact that these corals can not expel the plastic waste. The website states that when living things consume plastic, it effects the normal eating habits, as well as causing a slow starvation because their stomachs fill up with plastic. The great barrier reef is also being effected, with the Australian surface containing 4,000 pieces of plastic.

The good news is that between the years of 2008-2014, over 683,000 pieces of plastic and debris were collected from beaches in the Great Barrier Reef region by volunteers. Also, the website states that the Australian government has contributed $700,000 in order to aid in the Great Barrier Reef clean up.