World Oceans Day: Plastics, responses and other maritime data
World Oceans Day was proposed during the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992, although it was only implemented in 2008. Since then, World Oceans Day has been celebrated on June 8 of each year, by resolution of the UN General Assembly. Its objective is to raise awareness about the importance of the oceans and how to preserve them. This year the UN has chosen two reasons to celebrate World Oceans Day.
First of all, its organizers have chosen the theme "Gender issue with respect to the ocean", complying with "Sustainable Development Goal number 5, gender equality". To this end, they have proposed different ways of “promoting gender equality in ocean-related activities, such as marine scientific research, fishing, work at sea, migration by sea and trafficking in persons, as well like policy formulation and management. ”
Second, the UN is launching the global "Play It Out" campaign, to reinforce this year's motto: " End plastic pollution." Due to decades of gargantuan use of this synthetic material, the planet is being led to a serious environmental catastrophe. 13 million tons of plastic are dumped annually into the ocean, which, among other damages, causes the death of 100,000 marine species each year. Much of the plastic remains intact for decades or centuries in the sea, due to its slow degradation. Another part, which does deteriorate, breaks down into microplastics, which, when ingested by fish and other marine animals, enters the world food chain.
What are the oceans, what are they and how much do they measure?
The oceans are masses of salty waters that cover approximately three quarters of the Earth's surface. The names and number of oceans on Earth have been determined, using a criterion that takes into account those masses surrounded by the spaces between continents, according to their geographical location. Thus we have five oceans in order of surface: Pacific, 156 million km2; Atlántico 77 million km2; Indian 69 million km2; Arctic 20 million km2 and Antarctic 14 million km2.
What are the greatest depths of the oceans?
The oceanic or marine trenches are narrow depths, species of natural excavations that are usually contiguous to the continental edges or next to volcanic islands. The three deepest trenches in the world are found in the Pacific Ocean: the Mariana trenches 11,034 meters deep. The Tonga Trench, near New Zealand, at 10,822 meters; the Japan Trench, with 10,554 meters. The deepest trench in the Atlantic Ocean is Puerto Rico, with its 8,800 meters.
Are the oceans the other lungs in the world?
The oceans, we can affirm that, together with the Amazon, they are the lungs of the world. These huge bodies of salt water are the largest producers of oxygen and act as a major sink for carbon dioxide, greatly reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and this benefits all of humanity.
The oceans, in addition, have the function of regulating the climate, through their capacity to absorb the Earth's heat, distributing the temperature around the planet by means of marine currents and surface winds from the sea, thus helping to mitigate the effects of change climate.
What is the world production of plastic?
Plastic is without a doubt the most versatile, common, and economical of the inventions made by us humans. But, just as its use has been varied and massive, the pollution that has caused and continues to cause is also varied and massive. In the 1950s, about 15 million tons of plastic were used on average per year. Currently around 300 million tons are produced. In 60 years we have multiplied the consumption of the material by 20. Only about 10% is recycled and reused correctly. The rest ends up in landfills, the most worrisome being the contamination of rivers, seas and oceans, which greatly damages aquatic fauna, in addition to seabirds.
Did you know these alarming facts about plastic?
Let's review the following figures provided by the UN:
5 billion plastic bags are used annually.
1 million bottles are purchased per minute.
12 billion tons of plastic waste will invade landfills and the sea in 2050, if we continue at this rate.
8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean annually.
400 years take to degrade the bags made of polyethylene, which are the majority.
At least 150 years, it can take time for bags made from other plastics to degrade.
America, Japan and the European Union are the largest producers of plastic waste per capita.
Why are plastics thrown into the water?
Several centuries ago the world population was minimal. There was a belief that the oceans recycled any item released into its waters. Partly they were right, because the wastes were few and of natural origin and this facilitated their recycling by salt, fauna and waves. Back then plastics and other synthetic materials did not exist. When these began to be produced, the millennial custom of using rivers, lakes and seas to dump them with their other waste continued, not to mention that the new materials could no longer be recycled with the same ease, since their degradation extends over centuries and millennia. Coupled with this, the population increase and the irrational use of plastic to make bags, wrappers, glasses, bottles and straws, among others, is creating serious problems for marine fauna and flora.The abiotic components are also affected due to the physicochemical imbalance of the marine waters.
How do plastic objects get to the oceans?
Less than 10% of the plastic produced in the world is recycled. 12% is incinerated and about 80% ends up in landfills or in the environment, according to Greenpeace data. From landfills or other places where the plastic material has been abandoned, they can reach the sea due to storms, winds or rains. The worst thing is that in many places humans dump their garbage trucks directly into rivers, whose destination, however far the coasts are, will be the sea.
What are the main pollutants in the oceans?
Pollutants comprise all kinds of substances and materials. Many cities dump large volumes of fecal material, pathogenic microorganisms, detergents, insoluble gases, all kinds of garbage, debris, glass, microplastics, as well as plastics, into rivers and seas. The aggravating factor of the latter is that most of them are single use and take centuries to degrade.
The wastewater from industrial landfills contains oils, phosphates, nitrates, fluorides, lead, arsenic, selenium, cadmium, manganese, mercury and even radioactive substances. Another type of very lethal spills are oil spills. Many of these pollutants take up to thousands of years to be recycled by nature.
What are the dangers for marine flora and fauna from the dumping of plastics?
There are a number of dangers to marine life. Fishing nets, for example, left or thrown into the sea can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and other species. These nets restrict movement and starve and suffocate animals, especially those that need to return to the surface to breathe.
What are the most polluted seas and oceans?
Ocean pollution is so widespread that plastic objects have been found near the maximum marine depth on Earth. A plastic bag was found in the Mariana Trench 10,898 meters below sea level.
Every year, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more than four million tons of plastic in the planet's seas, that is, half the total amount, according to the NGO Ocean Conservancy. If nothing is done to prevent it, by 2025 there will be 250 million tons of plastic waste in global waters, the researchers say.
A large garbage island was found in the Pacific Ocean, estimated to be around 700 thousand km2, an area larger than the territory of France.
The Mediterranean Sea is considered the most polluted in the world. The United Nations estimated that 650 million tons of sewage, 129 thousand tons of mineral oil, 60 thousand tons of mercury, 3.8 thousand tons of lead and 36 thousand tons of phosphates are discharged every year. "It would take 100 years for its waters to be cleaned and renewed," according to Greenpeace.
What is being done to remove plastics from the oceans?
The problem is serious and giving an answer in four lines is something like impossible. Some countries, such as Chile, have already banned the use of plastic bags in large stores and supermarkets. There are other nations that have already set a deadline for its use. Some supermarkets of their own volition are discontinuing the use of plastic material to package merchandise. In some communities, consumers have urged others not to buy pre-packaged plastic products. There is increasing talk of banning the sale of plates, straws, silverware, and plastic cups. There are different methods being experimented to extract the plastic from the seas. So far none have been effective. The problem is not only to extract them, but where to place those millions of tons of plastic that float or are sunk in the seas.
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