Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

The plastic we've created kills marine fauna.

  • The Mediterranean and Pacific marine fauna are the most consumed plastics in the world, according to a study conducted by an Andalusian university.
Argazkia: Getty Images

22 January 2021 - 12:09

Mediterranean and Pacific marine fauna is the most affected by plastic waste. The greatest impact of plastic waste on marine animals is through knots with fishing gear, such as the nets that make up the death trap. The waste that gets entangled in the limbs of the animals also has a great influence and, in many cases, prevents breathing on the earth.

Many types of species feed on small microplastics that occur as a result of plastic penetration, assuming that they are food. When ingested, the digestive tract is blocked and animals are at risk of death. Every abandoned waste, every gram that is not properly recycled or filtered in the sewage treatment plants, comes to the sea. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste per square metre are accumulated in the seas each year.

Effects on sea turtles, cetaceans and fish

A study by the University of Almeria reveals that the seas where marine fauna devours the most plastic in the world are the Mediterranean and the Pací fico.Los most frequent plastics that cause the death of sea turtles are white (66.60%), fibers (54.54%) and low density polymers (39.09%).In cetaceans: white (38.31%), clear fibers

 


You are interested in the channel: Itsasoak
2025-02-13 | Axier Lopez
Boycott of the massacre of whales and dolphins
In the Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic under Danish control, hundreds of cetaceans – usually more than a thousand – are killed each year. Some call it "tradition" because of its centuries of antiquity. But the known and viral images of hundreds of dolphins... [+]

Why has the sky exploded now in Valencia?
A storm has caused a disaster in the west of the Mediterranean, which has left at least 51 dead and dozens missing from the Mediterranean earthquake. The meteorologist Millán Millán warned that the causes of such severe storms should be sought in the destruction of the coast... [+]

2024-09-23 | Nagore Zaldua
Goodbye, J.
What fauna! In the first season of chapter IV, I've presented several waves of seafarers from the outboard of the trainee in this corner. However, I would like to use my first article from the second season to pay tribute to a friend and underline the importance of his work:... [+]

Body sounds
"The sea is very close and far away for the disabled"
Through awareness-raising sessions, lectures and social networks, Juncal Cepeda (Irun, Gipuzkoa, 1986) performs an anti-capitalist activism. As a child, she has not had disabled referents and makes dissemination to help others and create referents. Through social networks, it... [+]

Urgent call to the wealthiest states to deal with the rise of the sea from the Pacific
Sea levels have risen in the last 30 years by 9.4 centimetres, but the rise is much higher in areas – among others, in some areas of the Pacific it is between 15 and 30 centimetres. The Pacific Islands Forum has urged the world’s richest countries to subsidize the reduction... [+]

Preventive tips to avoid emergencies in 112 words
Children in the water, with upright ears

It would not be wrong to remember the risks of water at this time when we are completely submerged in the summer of 2024. In general, we all remember wonderful moments in aquatic areas, but periodically, some tragic news moves us in the headlines of the media. To think that... [+]


2024-06-07 | Estitxu Eizagirre
Manuela Jauregi, current fisherman
"Year after year the octopus has decreased, something happens with sea water, that's clear."
Manuela Jauregi is a fisherman who for 25 years, along with her husband, has been fishing octopus and day fish in Getaria, aboard the Manuela boat. Mattin intervenes with Jauregi inside the boat, explaining the changes he has experienced in recent years.

2024-05-29 | Nicolas Goñi
In the Marshall Islands, they collaborate on the basis of plans to adapt to sea rise
In the Pacific, the Marshall Islands are one of the most fragile countries facing climate change, due to the direct threat of rising sea levels. The local government has implemented a comprehensive adequacy plan, in collaboration with the population, with the aim of building a... [+]

Aixa Barbarin López, submarine archaeologist
"Ports are landfills"
Aixa Barbarin López is an underwater archaeologist and, as he has acknowledged, wanted to be an archaeologist from a very young age. Therefore, when the time came to go to university, he chose to study history at the UPV and immersed himself in archaeology. But it didn't occur... [+]

Photo of the history of navigation

In 2019, in the waters of the Greek island of Cases, the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Greek Ministry of Culture began a study. The result of the work has been recent and in total ten traces of boats have been found at different times. The oldest is about 5,000... [+]


2024-02-05 | Nagore Zaldua
Salt fireflies
What a wonder is the ability to generate light, no? Fireflies, relatives of beetles, are the brightest beings on earth, but there are also in the sea, in the oceans, a number of glowing violuminiscent beings.

2024-01-25 | Euskal Irratiak
Bi egun itsasoan, mikroplastikoen kutsadura zertan den jakiteko

Plastikozko 25.000 kilo bolatxo isuri zituen Galiziako kostaldean Toconao itsasontziak abendu hastapenean. Ordutik, kutsadura horrek euskal kostaldean ukan dezakeen eraginari aitzina hartzeko, Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa eta Eusko Jaurlaritza erne ezarri dira. Elkargoak,... [+]


Norway opens the door to mining companies to plunder the deep Arctic sea
The Norwegian Parliament has taken an important step in the deep exploitation of minerals in the ocean, authorizing mining companies to commercially explore and exploit the deep sea, the last place in the world without human contact. Scientists and ecologists are concerned about... [+]

Eguneraketa berriak daude