Recently, the scientific expedition team of the 4th segment of the 49th voyage of China’s oceans took samples of marine microplastics in the southwest Indian Ocean. This is the first time that China has carried out surveys of marine microplastics in the southwest Indian Ocean, but it is not the first time that China has conducted surveys of marine microplastics. Since 2016, China has begun to monitor offshore micro-plastics. Last year, China expanded the monitoring of marine micro-plastics to the oceanic region, and carried out micro-plastic surveys of the seas in the Pacific Northwest and the Southern Ocean.
What is microplastics and why does China have to investigate it frequently?
Marine microplastics are small plastic pellets less than 5 mm in diameter. Some come from large plastic litter, some come from personal care products such as toothpaste, hair spray, etc. Don't underestimate these pellets because they are surprisingly large. Currently, globally Plastic production exceeds 300 million tons, a large amount of plastic waste enters the sea, and eventually it becomes microplastics that fall into seawater.
Microplastics are very harmful. In 2014, UNEP listed microplastic pollution as one of the ten most pressing environmental issues. It was considered as 'PM2.5 in the ocean'. It not only pollutes seawater, but also Was mistaken for food by many marine organisms. Scientists have found that crustaceans in the Pacific Ocean, which are nearly 11,000 meters deep, feed on plastics. These microplastics enter marine organisms and increase their risk of disease and may even affect Embryos, reduce the success rate of hatching. Many marine organisms suffer from esophageal infections due to swallowing of micro plastics, stomach infections, etc. Eventually they can't escape to death. What's more frightening is that these micro plastics will slowly invade the fish body if they eat it. The health of these fish will be threatened.
Experts say that China’s research on pollution and control of marine plastics and microplastics is now developing very rapidly. In the future, we need to study and establish a global unified marine microplastics observation, analysis and appraisal method to determine the plastic waste of rivers and estuarine systems entering the sea and the global Micro plastic flux. 'The most fundamental thing is to let everyone consciously raise awareness of environmental protection, minimize the use of personal care products containing plastic particles, do not throw garbage at the beach, from the source to reduce the chance of plastic waste into the sea.'