The ocean is said to be Earth’s life support, with 97% of the world’s water held by the ocean. We rely on it to regulate our climate, absorb CO2 and it is the number one source for protein for over a billion people. As many as 14 million tonnes of plastic pieces less than 5 mm wide are likely present at the bottom of the oceans, new research estimated. CSIRO, Australian government’s science agency, collected and analysed cores of the ocean floor taken at six remote regions nearly 300 km off the nation’s southern coast in the Great Australian Bight, reported The Guardian.
According to the study, this is more than 35 times as much plastic than is believed to be floating on the surface. As a part of the study, researchers quantified microplastics in deep-sea sediments from the Great Australian Bight. According to the study, plastic pollution gathers in seafloor sediments either by sinking through the water column or through currents and sediments which are transported down continental slopes. Deep-sea sediments from the Great Australian Bight were sampled and it was concluded that. The samples were collected using a robotic submarine that went 3,000 meters down. It was then concluded that there was an average of 1.26 microplastic pieces per gram of sediment. According to researchers, this is up to 25 times more microplastics than what has been shown in previous studies.
Dr Denise Hardesty, CSIRO’s principal research scientist and study’s co-author said that finding these microplastics in such a remote site suggests the “ubiquity of plastics, no matter where you are in the world”. “This means it’s throughout the water column. This gives us pause for thought about the world we live in and the impact of our consumer habits on what’s considered a most pristine place,” Hardesty said. “We need to make sure the big blue is not a big trash pit. This is more evidence that we need to stop this at the source.”
Yearly, tonnes of plastic enters our oceans. It escapes from landfill sites, floats down our drains, ends up in rivers and makes its way into our oceans. A lot of plastic waste is invisible to the naked eye, it collects in ocean gyres, where marine life feeds. It’s not only the single-use plastic, such as plastic bottles and straws you use but the microbeads in your cosmetics, the fibres in your clothing and in your teabags. As only 1% of this plastic floats, everything else sinks to the floor polluting the most remote places on earth.
