Microplastics on the seafloor research worse than estimates
Posted on: Wed 7 Oct 2020
New research has shown that the effect of microplastics, a result of plastics that reach the ocean and break down to where smaller creatures from plankton to fish can consume and then pass up the food chain, has been suggested to factor in at around 8-14 million tonnes sitting on the ocean floor, which is up to 35 times more than the estimated weight of plastic pollution on the ocean’s surface.
With a massive 4-8 million tonnes of plastic are thought to enter the sea each and every year, it’s clear to see that pollution in the oceans is having a devastating effect on the environment when the microplastics become so small that it moves up the natural progression of the food chain
Zoe Kounadis and Tom Mann from the Breakfast team speak to Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist of the CSIRO about the specifics of this research
Produced by Jack Padley
Image sources from Flickr
