Plastic pollution now affects almost all ocean-living species. Meanwhile, the sea surface temperatures that were once considered extreme are now normal.
These are the findings from two separate studies that were published in February, ahead of the ongoing One Ocean Summit, a conference that was organized by French President Emmanuel Macron in order to protect marine life from climate change, overfishing, and pollution. The research papers together tell the story of an ecosystem that is becoming increasingly vulnerable to human survival.
The journal published the initial study. Plos ClimateThe researchers found that heat that was once rare was now common in the majority of the world’s oceans. “Extreme climate changes are not a hypothetical future possibility,” researchers wrote. “But a past historical event which has already occurred in global ocean.”
Dead sea turtles were found washed up on beaches with plastic bags, bottle caps, and other pieces of plastic in the stomachs.
The second StudyThe WWF commissioned the study. It was conducted by scientists from Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute. They reviewed thousands of academic papers in order to determine if areas like the Mediterranean and East China Sea have passed certain pollution thresholds. It identified 88% of 297 species that were negatively affected by plastic.
Heike Vesper from WWF Germany’s Marine Program, stated that while the findings are shocking, they only cover a fraction of the threatened life forms. It’s almost like turning on a flashlight in darkness.
Hotter oceans
Two ecologists from Monterey Bay Aquarium in the USA, a conservation group, witnessed a massive marine heat wave decimate giant kelp forests off California’s coast. They decided to investigate how extreme it was. They used 150 years of sea temperature measurements to establish a historical standard for extreme heat in oceans. The researchers discovered that such temperatures occurred in less than 2% of the oceans’ surface area in the late 19th-century.
The Industrial Revolution began.
As people started to burn fossil fuels for heat and power, they released gases that captured sunlight and warmed our planet. The greenhouse effect has led to global average temperatures of 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher. It has also made heat waves significantly more likely.
The burning of fossil fuels like coal has led to an increase in global temperatures and the endangerment of marine life.
The researchers found that more than half of the world’s oceans were subject to extreme heat in 2014. In each subsequent year, the ocean’s area that saw such high temperatures increased. It reached 57% of the ocean’s total surface in 2019. The higher temperatures have caused fish to be forced from their natural habitats and have also reshaped entire ecosystems.
“We’re talking about more than sea turtles, whales, and tuna,” said Kyle Van Houtan (ex-chief scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium) and co-author of this study. He added that ocean heating was also a matter of livelihoods, national security, and global security. “Three Billion people worldwide get their primary source for protein from the ocean every day.”
Nearly half the population relies on fish for their protein intake.
Researchers described extreme heat in the new normal.
Other scientists have stated that, while the climate today may not be the same as it was in the past, it is likely to heat up even more. Because each additional ton of carbon pollution in Earth’s atmosphere heats the planet, temperatures that were normal today will be considered cooler in the future.
“[Calling it a] ‘new normal’ makes it sound like we already passed through a change and now it’s done,” said Scott Denning, a climate scientist at Colorado State University. “But instead, we are climbing a steep hill for which there is no end in sight.”
Plastic pollution
A separate pollution crisis is also threatening aquatic plants and animals.
Plastic pollution can be found all over the oceans, and it is nearly impossible to eliminate once it is in, according to the WWF/Alfred Wegener research. The authors warned that even if plastic pollution was stopped today, the oceans would be littered with more microplastic as larger pieces break down.
“The most important discovery is that once plastic starts to decompose and becomes microplastic or nanoparticles it cannot be removed,” Vesper from WWF Germany stated. “The ocean is the last sink for plastic waste on planet Earth.”
According to a study published by the journal, only 9% of plastic ever has been recycled. Science Advances2017 In 2017, about 12% of the plastic was burned and the rest was thrown in landfills, dumps, or nature. Plastic that is left behind in landfills can be secured with strong locks, but eventually it will find its way into waterways that transport it to the ocean.
Plastic waste from unsecured landfills often ends-up in waterways
The study authors cautioned that the observed declines were difficult to trace back to one factor as the oceans are so saturated with threats, including pollution and overfishing. However, plastic pollution could pose a threat to species, according to the study.
According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), coral reefs are so susceptible to warming that they would be effectively extinct if temperatures rose 2 C above their pre-industrial levels. Three-quarters of corals could die if the temperature threshold at 1.5 C, which is the limit to which world leaders have committed to limit global warming, is reached.
Vesper added that plastic pollution blocks sunlight and damages corals due to its abrasive edges. “The combination of both is a real disaster.”
Protecting oceans
WWF and other conservation groups called for a legally binding treaty to address plastic waste worldwide. It would include “specific, clear, and universally-applicable rules” for the entire lifecycle of artificial products. These calls were echoed by companies such as Unilever, Nestle, and Coca Cola that sell products such shampoo and soft drinks packaged in single-use polyethylene in advance of the UN summit in Feb to tackle plastic pollution.
Previous UN environmental treaties have been criticised for being ineffective in making pollution reductions voluntary. The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change doesn’t set any binding targets as to how much countries should reduce their carbon pollution each and every year.
At the One Ocean Summit in the French port of Brest, which ends Friday, world leaders have met to discuss topics like deep sea mining, greater protection for the high seas, and plans to safeguard 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
Edited by Jennifer Collins
