'Choked, Strangled, Drowned': CA's Sea Animals In Peril

CALIFORNIA, CA — With Thanksgiving and the holidays ahead, Californians are generally buying more — and those products often come wrapped in plastic and/or contain plastic. A report released Nov. 19 shows just how much our reliance on plastics is killing sea animals.

The Washington D.C.-based conservation group Oceana has compiled for the first time the available data on plastic ingestion and entanglements in marine mammals and sea turtles in U.S. waters. The research from the nonprofit titled "Choked, Strangled, Drowned: The Plastics Crisis Unfolding In Our Oceans" paints a grim picture.

“This report shows a wide range of single-use plastic jeopardizing marine animals, and it's not just the items that first come to mind, like bags, balloons and bottle caps. These animals are consuming or being entangled in everything from zip ties and dental flossers to those mesh onion bags you see at the grocery store. We can only expect these cases to increase as the [plastics] industry continues to push single-use plastic into consumers’ hands," said Dr. Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana.

After surveying dozens of government agencies, organizations and institutions that collect data on the impact of plastic on marine animals, the Oceana researchers found evidence of nearly 1,800 animals from 40 different species swallowing or becoming entangled in plastic since 2009. Of those, 88 percent were species listed as endangered or threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act, according to the organization.

The Oceana team acknowledged the nearly 2,000 animals were a very small sampling, but most sick or injured creatures are never found because they die at sea. The report instead relied heavily on stranded animal data, which are collected due to mandates from environmental laws like the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

In reviewing the cases, the most worrisome issue researchers found was that the animals are consuming plastics they mistake for food. The plastic then obstructs digestion and tears intestines, leading to problems that can cause death.

Plastic entanglement also poses a deadly threat. Animals drown, choke to death or suffer physical trauma, like amputation and infection. Entanglement can also lead to malnutrition when it prevents the ability to feed properly, according to the report.

Some of the disturbing cases researchers documented off the U.S. West Coast were a long-beaked common dolphin with a food wrapper lodged in its esophagus; a northern elephant seal nursing a pup while a packing strap was tightly entangled around her neck; and a Guadalupe fur seal found dead with an 8-inch plastic piece lodged in its stomach.

While all plastics are harmful to sea animals, the report found:

The most common plastics ingested are:

Bags, balloons, recreational fishing line, plastic sheeting, and food wrappers.

The most common plastics entangling sea animals are:

Plastic packing straps, bags, and balloons with strings.

Additional items found inside or on sea animals:

Bottle caps, beverage bottles, straws, plastic chairs, plastic forks, toothbrushes, plastic dental flosser, toys, buckets, bubble wrap, sponges, swim goggles, plastic Easter grass, sandwich bags, and polystyrene cups.

According to Oceana, scientists now estimate that 15 million metric tons of plastic wash into the ocean every year, which equates to about two garbage trucks’ worth of plastic entering the ocean every minute.

Plastic production is expected "to grow at an alarming rate" over the coming decades, and if nothing changes the amount of plastic entering the ocean is projected to triple by 2040, according to Oceana.

The researchers make recommendations in the report on how to curb the pollution, including reducing plastic production, especially non-medical single-use plastic, as well as national, state and local legislation to reduce single-use plastic.

“This report is merely a snapshot of what’s happening to the animals inhabiting plastic-polluted waters around the United States — imagine how great the numbers would be if they included the animals not observed or documented by humans,” said Christy Leavitt, report author and plastics campaign director at Oceana. “The only way to turn off the tap and protect our oceans is for companies to stop producing unnecessary single-use plastic — and that will require national, state and local governments to pass policies ensuring they do.”