marine life – Aquarius-Systems

Study Finds Plastic Chemicals in the Ocean Can Cause Deformities in Marine Life

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:57:56 +0000

Biologists in Cornwall have found that chemicals released in the ocean from plastic can lead to deformities in marine animals.

The study by biologists from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus found that plastics in the ocean can release chemicals that cause deformities in sea urchin larvae.

Study Finds Plastic Ingestion Is Widespread in Sea Turtles Off Australia’s Coast

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 17:50:14 +0000

Around 83% of green turtles and 86% of loggerhead turtles found off the coast of Queensland were found to have plastics within them, a study from Deakin, James Cook and Murdoch universities found.

Researchers examined the contents of the stomach, intestines, cloaca and bladder of stranded or captured turtles collected from the Indian Ocean off Western Australia and the Pacific Ocean off Eastern Australia.

One turtle found in the Indian Ocean contained 343 pieces of plastic while another in the Pacific Ocean contained 144.

The proportion of turtles that had ingested plastic was much higher in the Pacific Ocean than in the Indian Ocean.

Thousands of Golf Balls Removed From Monterey Bay Raise Concerns About Marine Pollution

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 19:37:51 +0000

Alex Weber, a junior at Carmel High School in California, and her friend Jack Johnston had repeatedly come across large numbers of golf balls on the ocean floor while snorkeling in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary near the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

As environmentally conscious teens, they started removing golf balls from the water, one by one. By the time Alex contacted me, they had retrieved over 10,000 golf balls – more than half a ton.

Alex, her friends and her father paddled, dove, heaved and hauled. By mid-2018 the results were startling: They had collected nearly 40,000 golf balls from three sites near coastal golf courses: Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and the Carmel River Mouth. And following Alex’s encouragement, Pebble Beach employees started to retrieve golf balls from beaches next to their course, amassing more than 10,000 additional balls.

Modern golf balls are made of a polyurethane elastomer shell and a synthetic rubber core. Manufacturers add zinc oxide, zinc acrylate and benzoyl peroxide to the solid core for flexibility and durability. These substances are also acutely toxic to marine life.

When golf balls are hit into the ocean, they immediately sink to the bottom. No ill effects on local wildlife have been documented to date from exposure to golf balls. But as the balls degrade and fragment at sea, they may leach chemicals and microplastics into the water or sediments. Moreover, if the balls break into small fragments, fish, birds or other animals could ingest them.