PLASTIC WASTE AND

 THE MARINE FOOD CHAIN

Video: Marine Food Life Web from uTube 

Drawing courtesy of yankeefleet.com

Discarded plastic human

rubbish that makes it's

way to the ocean is 

poisoning the marine

food chain. In marine

environments plastics

disintegrate into

smaller pieces even

down to the molecular level. As these plastic particles photograde down to the zooplankton size they are consumed by jellyfish who are in turn consumed by smaller fish. larger fish, and right on up the food chain to humans where it can cause disruption of the endocrine system, suppress the immune system, and decrease reproductive rates. 

Toxic additives used in manufacturing the plastic material when exposed to water leak into their surroundings making plastic ocean waste more deadly than it would be on land.   Floating plastic debris can also absorb pollutants such as PCBs, DDT and PAHs. 

Marine Life Food Web

The problem is that the plastic waste that enters the ocean in one country is distributed to other countries in the world where it is ingested into other marine food chains which ultimately affects all humans worldwide.