Inside the Gut of a Dead Sperm Whale 

Marine debris kills a million whales, seals, turtles, shorebirds and other species every year through ingestion or entanglement. Here’s a 4-minute video from Brut America that explains the connection between marine debris, wildlife and human health—and includes visuals of the contents of a dead sperm whale’s stomach. (Spoiler: it’s a lot of plastic.)  

The scale of the marine debris crisis can be overwhelming, but together, we can make progress.

‘Tis the Season for Debris-free Gifts 

Gift wrapping, shipping packages, and gifts, themselves, often result in large sums of waste that can end up in our oceans and Great Lakes. Our partners at the NOAA Marine Debris Program have developed ideas for debris-free gift exchanges. Click on this link for a list of creative ideas:

You can also give the gift of cleaner oceans with a donation to the Marine Debris Foundation in honor of that special someone! Just click on the DONATE button below.

Global Plastics Treaty 

In March 2022, at the invitation of the UN Environment Programme, world leaders in government, the scientific community, industry and other sectors gathered to draft a resolution to develop a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. The resolution called for the development of a treaty that will address the full life cycle of plastics, including its production, design and disposal. Since 2022, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee has met four times; the fifth meeting will take place from November 25 through December 1 in South Korea.  

Ending the ocean plastics and marine debris crisis requires change at all points of the plastics value chain–from slowing the production of new plastics to standing up infrastructure that supports shifting to reusable and refillable items, to improving recycling systems and outcomes.  

The upcoming treaty talks will be covered by numerous media outlets. You can also read about them on the official website of the UN Environment Programme:

Corals and Microplastics

A group of scientists in the southwest Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands recently discovered what has been confirmed as the world’s largest known coral—measuring longer than a blue whale, the world’s biggest animal. It is thought to be about 300 years old. 

Corals are complex networks of coral polyps, tiny individual creatures that secrete the calcium carbonate that gives corals their hard skeleton. Corals provide habitat, shelter and breeding grounds for an array of species, including shrimp, crabs and fish.  

Although research on the newly discovered coral is just underway, a recent study by scientists in Thailand and Japan revealed that microplastics were present in all parts of the corals they investigated. The researchers suggest that coral could be acting as a microplastics “sink,” absorbing it from the water and storing it inside themselves.  

Researchers studying ocean plastics have long been perplexed by “the missing plastics problem:” 70% of the plastics that enter our oceans cannot be accounted for in the ocean. This recent study suggests that corals could account for some of that missing plastic.

Hitchhikers

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably familiar with the many ways marine debris harms the environment and wildlife…Marine animals are entangled and ingest debris. Debris suffocates critical habitat like coral reefs. But did you know that marine debris is also a vector for invasive species? 

Some marine debris can pick up “hitchhikers” – organisms that attach themselves to marine debris and travel to areas where they otherwise would not otherwise be found. 

Here’s an extreme example: the 2011 Japan tsunami washed five million tons of debris offshore. One year later, debris from Japan (vessels, docks, buoys, household items) began floating ashore on the west coast of North America and Hawai’i. Researchers tracked the arriving tsunami debris for the next six years. They found 289 Japanese marine species living on the debris, thirty of which were known invasive species. A growing body of researchers are investigating the full potential of invasive species introduction via marine debris hitchhikers.

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Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Ending the marine debris crisis requires intensive actions on multiple fronts: from removing debris from ecologically sensitive areas, to preventing more debris from entering our oceans and Great Lakes, to slowing the production of consumer plastics, much of which winds up in our waterways. We liken this multifaceted work to the movie title Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. 

Sometimes removing marine debris feels like mowing the lawn: it shows back up. But especially in ecologically sensitive areas–where, for instance, debris is smothering coral reefs or engantling endangered species like the right whale–we must devote resources to marine debris removal. 

National marine sanctuaries are like national parks in the ocean: they are federally protected areas that help preserve some of our most ecologically and culturally important marine environments. MDF’s financial support of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s “Clean Seas Florida Keys” initiative is helping protect the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which safeguards the only living barrier reef in the continental United States. The project partners with local dive shops, whose clients participate in debris removal, disposal (and recycling when possible) in a form of regenerative tourism– a great example of blue economy.

Support more efforts to protect ecologically sensitive areas from marine debris with a gift to MDF

Eyes on Indonesia

As the world’s largest archipelagic nation, Indonesia’s rich marine resources form the backbone of its economy and identity. With 70% of the population living in coastal areas, the ocean economy generates one quarter of the country’s GDP. Despite its dependence on a healthy and profitable marine environment, Indonesia releases the equivalent of almost 2,000 Boeing 747 aircraft full of plastic into the ocean every year, according to the World Bank Group. Pollution at this scale threatens to devastate fishing and tourism industries and damage the nation’s rich marine biodiversity and extensive mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef habitats. MDF is one of the many nonprofits and organizations supporting efforts to curb marine debris and protect critical ecological resources in Indonesia.

MDF is helping to fund the installation of 100 trash barriers in Bekasi, West Java, whose rivers are amongst the most polluted in the world. With a grant to Sungai Watch, we are supporting a circular economy initiative that trains and employs local residents to safely collect and sort the debris intercepted by the trash barriers, and to ensure all materials are properly recycled and/or disposed of. Once all 100 barriers are operating, Sungai Watch will intercept an estimated 3,300 pounds of plastics per year. The organization is currently conducting site surveys to assess optimal locations for its warehouses.

Support more efforts to prevent debris from devastating our oceans with a gift to MDF

MDF welcomes Richard Formato to its Board of Directors.  

Richard is a passionate fly fisherman. A former member of Fly Fishing Team USA, he now guides fresh- and saltwater fishing expeditions. Richard was appointed to the Virginia Board of Recreation and Conservation by Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. 

As a coastal university with a strong environmental ethos, College of the Atlantic (COA) takes its role as an ocean steward seriously. Administration and students understand that decisions made on campus have a lasting impact in the marine environment. 

COA is leading the way for coastal campuses across the country to train and empower student leaders to re-think solid waste management systems and processes on campus; advocate for necessary changes; and implement new designs. Peer-to-peer learning is a powerful tool for system change, and supporting young adults in this process is critical. MDF is proud to support the Zero Waste Fellowship at COA, headed by the Post Landfill Action Network. This fellowship trains students in the complexities of real-world business decisions, helps them network to learn best practices, and provides resources and guidance to foster implementation of plans to eliminate single-used plastics on campus.