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Scientists have now discovered that plastic is entering our bodies from a whole host of different sources. From the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat

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In a recent study, scientists injected microplastics with a florescent marker. They discovered that tiny plankton are ingesting them. They then focused their research up the food chain to small fish, mussels, clams, and oysters and discovered that they were ingesting microplastics, too.

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The clean-up efforts taking place all around the world are incredible, but we can try to clean up our rivers and coastlines, we can even try to clean up the plastic that's far out at sea, but unless we turn off the plastic tap, the unrelenting deluge that enters our oceans every day simply will never stop

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That effective fishing gear system could not only protect whales all around the world, but the livelihood of fisherman, too

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Around the world, governments and corporations are starting to address the problem. Some companies are making very public pledges to make all their product 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

It's been reported that one pioneering project could remove hundred and even thousands of tonnes of plastic from the ocean. The project was devised by a 16 year old boy. They've designed a floating 600 metre tube with a three metre curtain hanging beneath it. Pushed by the waves, it will travel across the seas, collecting plastic as it goes.

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Changing fishing gear from different perspective

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Changing fishing gear from different perspective

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New Study Suggests Fishing Gear Changes May Reduce Large Whale Entanglements

https://oceana.ca/en/blog/new-study-suggests-fishing-gear-changes-may-reduce-large-whale-entanglements/

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To reduce the number of whale entanglements, authorities there have been imposed strict fishing bans at the peak of their migration. And fisherman have also made significant changes to their fishing gear.

Globally, there are fewer than 30 small rescue teams and an estimated population of two million whales. The only way to stop entanglements is to remove the vertical ropes from the water column.

Marco Flag is the engineer who's designed a new fishing gear. His invention keeps the ropes attached to the Lobster pot safely out of harm's way. It's only released when the fisherman wants to haul up this trap.

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2. SHEARWATERS WHO HAVE BEEN FED PLASTIC

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2. SHEARWATERS WHO HAVE BEEN FED PLASTIC

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Flesh-footed shearwaters has recently been discovered to eat more plastic relative to their size than any other animal in the ocean.  Shearwaters who have been fed plastic are often so weighed down they can't fly and so weak they can't get pass the surf. Many simply won't make it.

- Shearwaters, from the moment they were born, they should have been fed a nutritious diet of fish and squid. But when their parents go hunting they often mistake plastic for food.
- Quite a number of years ago, the average number of pieces of plastic per bird might have been closer to, five or ten pieces per bird, and now it's much closer to 30 or 40 pieces per bird.
- Over 200 different marine species have been found to ingest plastic.

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At least 10 per cent of marine litter is estimated to be made up of fishing waste, which means that between 500,000 and 1 million tons of fishing gear are entering the ocean every year.

The number of species affected by either entanglement or ingestion of plastic debris has doubled since 1997, from 267 to 557 species. 66% of marine mammals, 50% of seabirds, and all 7 species of marine turtles.

5.7 per cent of all fishing nets, 8.6 per cent of traps and pots, and 29 per cent of all fishing lines used globally are lost around the world each year.

https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/new-report-from-wwf-says-addressing-abandoned-fishing-gear-must-be-central-in-the-fight-against-plastic-pollution

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Entanglements are affecting animals all over the world killing an estimated 300.000 marine mammals a year and over 400.000 sea birds. Many of these animals have been caught in plastic fishing gear.

It's estimated that between half and two thirds of whales in these fishing whales in these fishing have been entangled at least once in their lifetime.

- Over a million tonnes of plastic fishing gear is lost or dumped at sea each year.

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All around the world, trillions of plastic are choking the very lifeblood of our Earth causing a threat from the smallest plankton to the planet's largest creatures such as shearwaters who have been fed plastic and whales who have been entangled by fishing gears which has lead to calls for removing plastic as much as they can and changing the fishing gear.

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solutions: changing the fishing gear & removing or not throwing plastics in the ocean

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problems: whale entanglements & shearwaters who have been fed plastic.

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TRILLIONS OF PIECES OF PLASTIC ARE CHOKING THE VERY LIFEBLOOD OF OUR EARTH. AND EVERY MARINE ANIMAL, FROM THE SMALLEST PLANKTON TO THE PLANET'S LARGEST CREATURES, IS FACING THIS NEW AND GROWING THREAT.

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TRILLIONS OF PIECES OF PLASTIC ARE CHOKING THE VERY LIFEBLOOD OF OUR EARTH. AND EVERY MARINE ANIMAL, FROM THE SMALLEST PLANKTON TO THE PLANET'S LARGEST CREATURES, IS FACING THIS NEW AND GROWING THREAT.