http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-31-2016-1.3826159/oceans-absolutely-choked-by-plastic-bottles-and-microplastic-fibres-1.3826476
[If anyone is interested, I have a solution paper I can share.]
Monday October 31, 2016
Oceans 'absolutely choked' by plastic bottles and microplastic fibres
You would hope that a $140,000 dollar coastal cleanup that involved
hundreds of volunteers and used a helicopter and a barge would leave the
beaches on the west coast of Vancouver Island looking pretty good.
But Rob O'Dea says when the Living Oceans Society finished slinging 40
tonnes of garbage (mostly plastic) from shore to the "GarBarge" many
beaches were still "absolutely choked" with water bottles, fishing gear,
and fishing totes the size of hot tubs.
"We maybe picked up five to ten per cent of what's on just the beaches
of Vancouver Island," he tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
O'Dea estimates a third of it drifted in as a result of the tsunami that
hit Japan in 2011, but most it was from more routine sources.
"And up in Cape Scott, this was the third year that our organization has
cleaned up those beaches, and each year there's more on the beach than
there was the year before."
To add to the troubles, the million-dollar gift from the government of
Japan that helped fund this work is now exhausted.
Meanwhile, Max Liboiron and her students at Memorial University are
studying the plastic in the waters and sea creatures around
Newfoundland. She applauds the cleanup on the west coast, but says "it's
like bailing out a boat before you've plugged the hole."
"The problem with plastics is that they're very light, they endure for a
long time, and the ocean is downhill from everything, Liboiron tells
Tremonti.
And once they get into the ocean, they break apart into smaller and
smaller pieces, toxicants collect on them, and then they enter the food
chain, and may affect human health in "insidious ways."
Liboiron says reducing the amount of plastic that's made is the only way
to begin to address the problem.
Listen to the full conversation. [http://www.cbc.ca/1.3829107]
This segment was produced by Halifax network producer Alex Mason.
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