oceanography research paper

Evelyn Velasco

Professor K.Miller

Oceanography

6 December 2018

Current Event Project

In the article “Ocean Life Eats Tons of Plastic” by the nationalgeographic new depicts

about how marine pollution causes harm. “As larger pieces of plastic debris in the ocean are

broken down, they also collect algae and take an odor that is similar to food that marine animals

consume..”( ​https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/ocean-life-eats-plastic-larvaceans-anch

ovy-environment/ ​). Since the plastic gives off this odor as if it were food to these animals, they

have no idea what they are really consuming which causes them to die easily or even worse get

consumed from people who eat fish specifically. To add on plastic can end up getting caught

around animals necks even trapping them such as birds, turtles, and etc.

Based on the current event that I’ve chosen in chapter 11, I saw how plastic has always

been a major problem to manage in oceans since it is hard to dispose and reuse again.

Throughout time the large pieces of plastic in the ocean end up breaking up into small pieces

which ends up getting consumed by marine animals. Plastic contains a lot of chemicals and this

is how it becomes even more fatal to these marine animals causing them vanish rapidly. Some of

these chemicals such as mercury, DDT, and PCB is what making environmentalist question

whether seafood is even safe enough to consume. In class we discussed on how these micro

plastics are that getting broken down should be removed. In other words, how can we convey

this message around the world on how to get rid of this waste and not let it keep affecting oceans.