Ocean Study: By 2050, Nearly Every Seabird In World Will Have Ingested Plastic; 9/10 Already Have

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Almost every seabird – from the gregarious kittiwake to the wandering albatross – will have eaten some kind of plastic object by the middle of this century, a systematic survey of marine pollution has found.

So much plastic waste is ending up in the oceans that 99 per cent of seabird species and 95 per cent of individuals within each species will end up swallowing some of it by 2050, scientists said.

The researchers have calculated that nine out of ten species of seabird are already having plastic rubbish lodged in their stomachs, causing untold damage to their chances of reproducing successfully. A review of previous studies into the effects on seabirds of plastic waste floating in the sea, combined with a global map of where plastic objects are more likely to be found in the oceans, has for the first time revealed the true scale of the pollution threat.

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“For the first time we have a global prediction of how wide-reaching plastic impacts may be on marine species,” said Chris Wilcox, principal research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Hobart, Australia. “We predict, using historical observations, that 90 per cent of individual seabirds have eaten plastic. This is a huge amount and really points to the ubiquity of plastic pollution,” Dr Wilcox said.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/almost-every-seabird-will-have-eaten-plastic-by-2050-because-of-ocean-pollution-10480117.html