PLASTIC
Introduction
Every year, there has been a global increase in plastic production. For instance, in 2017, there was a global increase in the production of plastics increased from 1.5 to 311 million tons. Because of this increase in plastic production and their non- biodegradable nature, environmental pollution by plastics has become a significant concern. Various researches estimate that each year, 5.0 -11.9 million tons of plastic debris enter the aquatic environment, and this quantity may immensely increase before 2025. Generally, plastics are defined as materials that are synthetic and that are made from various polymers. Plastics enter the marine environment in the form of primary pollution or secondary pollution. There are two types of plastics. One is primary plastics- commonly known as polymers, which are those plastic segments that are manufactured on a small scale. Another type is secondary plastics, which are plastic segments that result from the degradation of bigger plastic fragments by photochemical energy.
Several research institutions have proven that the mere presence of plastics in marine environments poses a danger to aquatic organisms such as birds, sea mammals, turtles, fishes, and worms. These organisms mistake the plastics for foods and therefore consume them. As a result, the stomachs of these animals get filled with plastic debris, which limits the amount of food the organisms take as the debris induce a satiation feeling, thus reducing the organism’s drive to search for food. Also, it may lead to stunted growth, low production abilities, and the inability to hide from predators. In some aquatic organisms, the plastic debris can interfere with the way the hormones in the organisms’ body function, leading to unnecessary mutations. In order to know the concentration of plastic debris in beach sediments, a marine environment has to be examined. In this article, I chose to explore the Baltic Sea, which is a shallow-water body in Europe. Usually, the Baltics’ catchment is extremely urbanized, implying that human activities in the surrounding areas are random. Therefore activities such as tourism and maritime transport will tremendously impact the marine environment. The methods of data collection, the density separation procedures, the results and conclusions of the study are discussed below.
Materials and methods
In 2017, the R/V Baltica research vessel collected samples from the Baltic Sea’s bottom. The samples were collected at two deepwater stations and four shallow water stations. Then, the Van Veen grab sampler was used to collect sands between two hauls.