The environmental impact of marine litter
        Learn more about this ecological threat

Marine litter has a large impact on the marine environment as more than 1 million birds and 100,000 marine mammals die each year from becoming entangled in or ingesting marine litter. 

Entanglement
Animals can often become entangled in discarded ropes and nets or trapped in plastic contains. Plastic strapping bands can also be dangerous for inquisitive animals such as seals. They swim through the bands catching them around their necks the bands then cut into their skin as they grow.  

Ingestion
Many different types of animals mistake litter for prey items.Turtles have been known to ingest plastic bags as they resemble jellyfish while floating in the water.  Also 98% of Fulmars in the North Sea have plastic in their stomachs which can lead to a loss of physical condition resulting breeding failure and in severe cases death.  

Human Equivalent
The average fulmar has 0.34 grams of plastic in its stomach. This might not seem a large amount but for a human it would be the equivelent of eating the plate full below.

The removal of marine litter from the seabed will have a large benefit to wildlife. Plastic, the predominate type of marine litter, can cause entanglement or be ingested by marine mammals and birds. A recent study by Plymouth University has also shown the alarming prevalence of microscopic plastic particles in northern seas, which can be taken up by filter feeders. All of these groups would benefit from a reduction in marine litter. 

 Also as levels of marine litter reduces fishermen themselves will achieve a long term benefit as currently marine litter damages their catches and costs them loss of valuable time at sea. Due to the estimated reduction in litter arriving ashore there will also be a benefit to local authorities that are required to clean amenity beaches in their area and for the public who use them. Other positive impacts will be experienced by various other industries in coastal areas for example, in the aquaculture industry as marine litter can clog and damage cages and nets. 

The images below illustrate an alarming comparison to the volume of marine litter inside a young fulmar's stomach. On the left is what is permanently held within a bird's stomach. On the right is the equivalent volume of plastics if it were in a human's stomach.

Would you like to carry around everything in the square container (right) in your stomach everyday?  

Learn more... 

        Read about the science behind marine litter

        Explore our Marine Litter action area.