Oceans fast becoming a garbage dump

From an article by Marina Litvinsky on Inter Press Service:

WASHINGTON, Jun 8 (IPS) - The growing problem of marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide and authorities must act now to reverse and prevent further environmental degradation, said a report released Monday, World Oceans Day.

The new report "Marine Litter: A Global Challenge" is a result of a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ocean Conservancy. It is the first-ever attempt to take stock of the marine litter situation in 12 major regional seas.

The 12 regional seas included in the report are: Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, East Asian Seas, East African Seas, Mediterranean, Northeast Atlantic, Northwest Pacific, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, South Asian Seas, South Pacific, and Wider Caribbean.

"This is a major problem that is getting worse, not better," said Amy Fraenkel, director of UNEP’s Regional Office for North America, at a press conference announcing the report.

The report’s findings indicate that despite several international, regional, and national efforts to reverse marine pollution, alarming quantities of garbage thrown out to sea continue to endanger people’s safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.

"The ocean is our life support system – it provides much of the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat and climate we need to survive – yet trash continues to threaten its health," said Vikki Spruill, president and CEO of Ocean Conservancy. "The bottom line is our ocean is sick and its human activities that have made it so."

Land-based activities are the largest source of marine litter. In Australia, surveys near cities indicate up to 80 percent of marine litter originating from land-based sources, with sea-based sources in the lead in more remote areas.

Land-based sources include wastes from dumpsites located on the coast of banks of rivers; rivers and floodwaters; industrial outfalls; discharge from storm water drains; untreated municipal sewerage; littering of beaches and coastal picnic and recreation areas; tourism and recreational use of the coasts; fishing industry activities; ship-breaking yards; and natural storm-related events.