Whales in a sea of plastic

John Crump

By GRID-Arendal

February 3^rd, 2017

Dead whale an alarm on plastic pollution

It’s hard to imagine that one of the largest creatures on the planet can be killed by eating plastic. But it seems that a stomach full of plastic bags may have led to the death of a Cuvier beaked whale this week on the Norwegian coast near the city of Bergen.

On the morning of February 2nd, Norwegians awoke to stories about a sick whale that entered the harbour at Vindenes, a small town on the island of Sotra on the country’s west coast. Rescuers tried to encourage it to swim out to sea but failed. Eventually, the whale was shot to put it out of its misery.

When examined, the dead whale was found to have 30 plastic bags in its stomach. News services ran photos of the bags laid out side by side forming a slimy, partly digested carpet on the dock. GRID-Arendal’s Joan Fabres has an idea about why this whale had so much plastic in its stomach.

“Cuvier's beaked whales, like all beaked whales, appear to prefer deep waters for feeding. Although few stomach contents have been examined, they appear to feed mostly on deep-sea squid,” says Fabres, an expert in marine litter.

“Suction appears to be used to draw prey items into the mouth at close range. Therefore, the dead whale could have mistaken plastic bags for its preferred food source -- the deep-sea squid.”

Cuviers are elusive and normally feed at around 1000 metres below the surface. In the ocean darkness, whales use echolocation to find their food. It’s not hard to imagine that a floating plastic bag might look like a swimming squid as it slowly sinks to the bottom.

“The presence of marine litter in birds, turtles and mammals is well documented,” says Fabres. “A recent GRID-Arendal report documented that more than half of the species of whales examined by researchers had plastic in their digestive systems.”

GRID-Arendal’s Vital Litter Graphics report illustrates just how widespread the problem is. The report states that a comprehensive review revealed marine litter in 100% of marine turtle, 59% of whale, 36% of seal and 40% of seabird species examined.

But organisms at every level, on the seabed and in the water column, can be affected. Apart from the physical risk from plastic there is also concern that marine organisms are threatened by the absorbtion of hazardous chemicals that are added to plastic during manufacture. The ability of plastic particles in the ocean to attract organic chemicals that don’t dissolve has led to a growing number of studies looking at plastics as a source of toxic chemicals in marine organisms.

Whether these chemicals make their way into humans who eat seafood is a matter of some concern and research is underway on this question as well.

As the world’s population has grown, so has the problem. Plastics have been integral to the rise of consumer demand around the planet. Much of this material is only used once before it’s thrown away. In fact, between 33 and 40% of plastic production goes to single-use, disposable items such as food packaging in the Europe United States, Canada and China. And a lot of it ends up in the ocean, according to the Vital Graphics report.

Alarm bells are ringing

GRID-Arendal is working with UN Environment and Norwegian partners like Hold Norge Rent to increase understanding of the implications of marine plastic pollution, and to find ways to halt its flow into the oceans. In 2016, GRID-Arendal contributed a UN Environment report released at the UN Environmental Assembly which provided the groundwork for a resolution by all countries to fight the increasing problem of plastics in marine ecosystems.

“The death of the Cuvier beaked whale can be seen as a powerful symbol of a problem that is out of sight, and out of mind,” says Peter Harris, Managing Director of GRID-Arendal. “All the research points to the simple fact that we need to take action now before this problem gets worse.”

“The good news is we’re seeing a developing consensus around the world that steps can be taken to capture plastic debris at its source, before it reaches the ocean,” Fabres adds.

Next week, Fabres will attend Hold Norge Rent’s marine litter conference in Stavanger that will bring together industry, government, researchers, NGOs and others to tackle the problem of marine litter.