Plastic Pollution in South China Sea

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Plastic Pollution in South China Sea

Introduction:

In the past few decades, marine pollution has become a major issue around the globe. The amount of plastic and other material waste is increasingly disposed of in the marine waters. Major water bodies like the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are greatly affected. Countries like China, India, us and Australia play a major role in increasing such marine pollution. The great Pacific garbage patch is a clear example of increasing plastic pollution in our major water bodies. 

Apart from polluting the water, plastic pollution also affects ocean currents and marine biology. Microplastic has affected many edible fish species. Past research has clearly found microplastic in fins and other body parts of many fishes around Australia and Chinese costs. Here in this article, we will briefly discuss marine pollution in china.

Microplastic in the South China Sea:

South China Sea (SCS) is a major hotspot for marine plastic pollution. The abundance of atmospheric microplastic (MP) in the Pearl River delta has increased significantly in past few years, about 4.2 to 6.5 items/100m3. However, the amount of MP in SCS (south china sea) is relatively lower (about 1.5 items/100m3). These figures clearly show that MP can undergo long-range transport, more than 1000 km. These figures are based on an analysis of 21 samples collected from the Pearl River delta to the SCS.

Globally around 350 million tons of plastic are produced every year. Due to several physical, chemical and biological factors most of these plastics will break down in MP. These MP’s can enter the human body and even air through the food chain and food web.  Recent studies have shown the presence of MP in the atmosphere of Shanghai which ranges from 0 to 420 items/100m3.

Currently, the source of atmospheric MP over the ocean is not well known because of complex transport mechanisms and unknown wind blow rate and direction. The South China Sea receives a significant amount of land base plastic due to poor waste management. Since the 1950s it is believed that several million tons of plastic are disposed of in the SCS. Apart from china other countries boarding the SCS may contribute about 2.5 to 7 million tons of plastic to the ocean every year.

The MPs collected from various samples are mainly of two types, fibrous and fragmented. The majority of suspended MPs were fibres (about 89%). MPs observed over the Pearl delta were all MP fibres. An abundance of MP fibre is also observed in the SCS (about 75%). Surprisingly MP fibre is also detected inside marine organisms.

Occurrence of plastic in SCS sediments: 

The International Coastal Clean-Up (ICC) reports that more than 560 tonnes of plastic have been collected from the coastlines of SCS in 2019. Plastic mainly includes bottles, cigarette butts, food packages and plastic bags. This clearly indicates the lack of awareness and littering behaviour among tourists and the common public as well as the lack of management of public waste by the government of respective countries. Different techniques are currently used by various organisations and research groups to calculate the total mass of plastic debris accumulated in the sea bed. Today there are no exact statistical data available that measure the mass of plastic per kg of sediments.

However, one sea bed-based modelling estimates the mass of plastic along the shorelines to be between 47 Mt and 126 Mt. The data from 13 different studies estimates the mass of microplastic accumulated in deep-sea sediments to be 14.5 million tonnes. However, without the exact calculation of plastic input into the SCS, we cannot calculate the total mass in the seabed. Further research is needed to be done.

Risks of Plastic Pollution:

Marine biology is affected by plastic pollution mostly in two ways. First is the ingestion of plastic by marine animals and second is these species getting entangled in plastic. A study from the Philippines estimated that more than 17 species are affected by the ingestion of plastic. Whales, dolphins, turtles and many other smaller fish species are greatly affected. The accumulation of plastic in the digestive system and other organs directly led to the death of many of these species. This problem is not limited to the SCS, but is seen throughout the global oceans. Many data from Australia, the USA and European nations also showed a similar issue of plastic ingestion. 

Research in SCS also showed the accumulation of microplastic in zooplankton. This clearly shows how deeply plastic has entered the food chain. Day by day this plastic is going deeper into the food web. After a few decades, it will be impossible to remove plastic from the food web. However, the total mass of plastic inside the marine species is very less than the total mass estimated in the sea bed. But still, slower accumulation of microplastic will have a large impact in near future. 

Several case studies from China and other countries bordering SCS showed that the concentration of plastic per kg of sediment has already crossed the threshold limit. So if not controlled today, the plastic pollution in our oceans will create a huge negative impact on the environment as well as our lives. Governments and International organisations clearly need to work together to solve this. Today, the concentration of plastic (both micro and macro) in international waters is a clear warning for us.

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