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Dolphins Playing with Plastic Bags | Blue Planet Live | BBC Earth

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WWF Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative

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Run-off from the land, the deliberate dumping of sewage, dredging, accidental oil spills, nets or discarded rubbish - all are polluting our marine environments, with dire consequences.

Eighty per cent of marine pollution is generated by land-based activities and is having a devastating effect on our oceans. As well as degrading habitat, pollution directly threatens marine animals including whales and dolphins.

Garbage - including plastics

Garbage discarded in our oceans poses several threats. Marine species often mistake plastics, for instance, as food, only to experience excruciating deaths when it blocks their breathing passages and stomachs. Discarded 'ghost nets' and fishing gear entrap unwitting marine animals. Globally, 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic pollution.

Toxic chemicals

Invisible toxic chemicals make their way from polluted water to plankton and on up the food chain, and are found in the skin and blubber of cetaceans.

Research by WWF in the Mediterranean Sea shows a high contamination of whales, dolphins and porpoises by phthalates, a component of plastics commonly found in packages, cables, varnish, medicines, paint and cosmetics. Phthalates are considered toxic for humans and animals, with potential harmful effects on fertility and foetus development. Today, the global production of phthalates is 3 million tonnes per year.

Oil spills

Oil spills can be catastrophic, but not all the oil that enters the sea leaks from ships. A large amount of oil can be traced back to factories within our cities, and poor containment or disposal methods.

Hydrocarbons, including crude oil, can be released intentionally by oil tankers after offloading, or unintentionally through accidental discharges and oil spills. Fuel oil can also be released into the environment from leaking vessels and shipping accidents.

Drilling lubricants used by the oil industry can contain high concentrations of hydrocarbons and heavy metals that can have toxic impact upon marine life.

How does plastic pollution affect marine life?

It's estimated that 56 per cent of the planet's whale, dolphin and porpoise species have consumed plastic - a plastic bag ballooned with water, for example, can look a lot like squid or other prey to the seals and marine mammals that hunt them. Many experience excruciating deaths when the plastic blocks their breathing passages and stomachs.

The other way that plastic pollution effects ocean mammals is through entanglement, and one of the worst offenders is abandoned fishing gear. Left to float in the ocean, it can ensnare unwary marine creatures. Marine mammals can't breathe underwater, and the most common way that entanglement kills is through drowning.

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Pollution - WWF Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative

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Eighty per cent of marine pollution is generated by land-based activities and is having a devastating effect on our oceans. As well as degrading habitat, pollution directly threatens marine animals including whales and dolphins. Garbage - including plastics Garbage discarded in our oceans poses several threats.

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Plastic pollution in the ocean is doing much more than cluttering our beaches and collecting in gyres. It is affecting individual animals, from the tiniest zooplankton to the largest whales, in their environment and inside their bodies. So what are the ways plastics affect whales and what can we do to help?
Entanglement
Whales can become physically entangled in plastic in the ocean, usually in the form of fishing nets and rope. Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a nonprofit organization with a branch in Plymouth, MA, published a recent article providing insight into cases of entanglement of North Atlantic right whales. Reports show that most entanglements are due to active fishing gear that is still in use, rather than abandoned or lost gear as is commonly believed ¹. In addition to surface injuries caused by entangling debris, whales can suffer from extreme energy exertion needed to travel with the burden of debris dragging behind them, and these effects can sometimes be lethal ². Researchers in New England and beyond are currently researching new fishing technologies to prevent entanglements, including ropeless traps ³.
Ingestion
Plastic may be ingested by whales mistakenly while feeding on prey, or may enter their digestive system from inside of prey that has previously fed on plastic. In 2018, a sperm whale stranded in Indonesia and its necropsy revealed that it had ingested over 13 pounds of plastic, including bags and flip-flops ⁴. Even the deep-diving species True's beaked whales have been found with plastic in their stomachs after stranding on the beach in Ireland ⁵. Microplastics, plastic pieces of 5mm or less, are of particular concern for baleen whales, as these giant creatures can end up ingesting the tiny plastic along with krill or other prey while filter feeding ⁶.
Contamination & Bioaccumulation
Ocean plastic has been found to be an excellent surface for chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as DDT to cling to, after entering the water as runoff, spills, or other waste. These pollutants can enter a whale's body when the plastic is ingested and are sometimes stored within their blubber ⁸. Through bioaccumulation, in which a predator's body processes or stores pollutants from multiple prey, species that are at the top of the food chain are the most likely to accumulate the highest amounts of these chemicals. POPs have been found in humpback whales, sperm whales, pilot whales, and fin whales ⁹.
What Can You Do to Help?
Eliminating or reducing the use of plastics, especially single-use plastic, in your daily life is a critical step in reducing marine debris. The ways that the world processes recyclables are changing, and one of our best preventions against marine debris is choosing not to purchase plastic to begin with. To take further action to rid our seas of marine debris, you can:

References:

1. Asmutis-Silvia, Regina & Barco, Susan & Cole, Timothy & Henry, Allison & Johnson, Amanda & Knowlton, Amy & Landry, Scott & Mattila, David & Moore, Michael & Robbins, Jooke & Van der Hoop, Julie. (2016). Rebuttal to published article "A review of ghost gear entanglement amongst marine mammals, reptiles and elasmobranchs" by M. Stelfox, J. Hudgins, and M. Sweet. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 117. 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.11.052.

2. Julie M. van der Hoop, Peter Corkeron, Allison G. Henry, Amy R. Knowlton, Michael J. Moore, Predicting lethal entanglements as a consequence of drag from fishing gear, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 115, Issues 1-2, 2017, Pages 91-104, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.11.060.

3. Baumgartner, M., Moore, M., Kraus, S., Knowlton, A., & Werner, T. (2018). Overcoming Development, Regulatory and Funding Challenges for Ropeless Fishing to Reduce Whale Entanglement in the US and Canada.

4. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/dead-sperm-whale-filled-with-plastic-trash-indonesia/

5. Amy L. Lusher, Gema Hernandez-Milian, Joanne O'Brien, Simon Berrow, Ian O'Connor, Rick Officer, Microplastic and macroplastic ingestion by a deep diving, oceanic cetacean: The True's beaked whale Mesoplodon mirus, Environmental Pollution, Volume 199, 2015, Pages 185-191, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.01.023.

6. Besseling, E.M. Foekema, J.A. Van Franeker, M.F. Leopold, S. Kühn, E.L. Bravo Rebolledo, E. Heße, L. Mielke, J. IJzer, P. Kamminga, A.A. Koelmans, Microplastic in a macro filter feeder: Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 95, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 248-252, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.04.007.

7. Besseling, E.M. Foekema, J.A. Van Franeker, M.F. Leopold, S. Kühn, E.L. Bravo Rebolledo, E. Heße, L. Mielke, J. IJzer, P. Kamminga, A.A. Koelmans, Microplastic in a macro filter feeder: Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 95, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 248-252, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.04.007.

8. Ryan C, McHugh B, Boyle B, McGovern E and others (2013) Levels of persistent organic pollutants in eastern North Atlantic humpback whales. Endang Species Res 22:213-223. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00545

9. Marianna Pinzone, Hélène Budzinski, Aurélie Tasciotti, Denis Ody, Gilles Lepoint, Joseph Schnitzler, George Scholl, Jean-Pierre Thomé, Nathalie Tapie, Gauthier Eppe, Krishna Das, POPs in free-ranging pilot whales, sperm whales and fin whales from the Mediterranean Sea: Influence of biological and ecological factors, Environmental Research, Volume 142, 2015, Pages 185-196, ISSN 0013-9351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2015.06.021.

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Plastic pollution in the ocean is doing much more than cluttering our beaches and collecting in gyres. It is affecting individual animals, from the tiniest zooplankton to the largest whales, in their environment and inside their bodies. So what are the ways plastics affect whales and what can we do to help?

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Humpbacks are known for singing loud, complex "songs" - lasting up to 30 minutes long! The sounds they make are the most varied in the animal kingdom, ranging from high-pitched squeals and whistles to low, rumbling gurgles. Only males "sing" and experts think they do it to attract females or to let other males know they're in the area.

Humpback whales are known for their magical songs, which travel for great distances through the world's oceans. These sequences of moans, howls, cries, and other noises are quite complex and often continue for hours on end. Scientists are studying these sounds to decipher their meaning. It is most likely that humpbacks sing to communicate with others and to attract potential mates.

These whales are found near coastlines, feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish. Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer winter breeding waters closer to the Equator.

Mothers and their young swim close together, often touching one another with their flippers with what appear to be gestures of affection. Females nurse their calves for almost a year, though it takes far longer than that for a humpback whale to reach full adulthood. Calves do not stop growing until they are ten years old.

Humpbacks are powerful swimmers, and they use their massive tail fin, called a fluke, to propel themselves through the water and sometimes completely out of it. These whales, like others, regularly "breach". This is when the whales leap from the water before landing with a tremendous splash. Scientists aren't sure if this breaching behavior serves some purpose, such as cleaning pests from the whale's skin, or whether whales simply do it for fun!

Images ⓒ Getty Images: Humpback Whale Close-up, Sue Flood. Humpack whale breaching, (83398407) . Humpback whale tail, (139552103)

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Humpback Whale Facts! - National Geographic Kids

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Find out all about humpback whales here at National Geographic Kids. What these brilliant beasts eat, where they live, the secret behind their songs and more!