Knowra Marine plastic pollution Marine plastic pollution Marine plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic debris in ocean waters, coastal habitats, and marine organisms. It includes persistent fragments, lost fishing gear, and larger discarded items.
Plastic pollution : The accumulation of plastic materials in the environment, where they persist and affect organisms and ecosystems. Marine debris is the ocean-based part of this broader environmental problem.
Ghost net : A fishing net that has been lost or abandoned and continues catching marine organisms. Ghost nets are a particularly damaging form of persistent marine plastic debris.
Plastic recycling : The reprocessing of discarded plastic into material for new products. Recycling can reduce waste, though collection and processing do not capture all marine-bound plastic.
Nanoplastics : Extremely small plastic particles, commonly defined as smaller than one micrometer, whose environmental measurement remains difficult. Their size complicates detection and leaves exposure and effects poorly quantified.
Microplastics : Plastic particles smaller than five millimeters, including manufactured particles and fragments formed as larger plastics break down. Weathering and fragmentation turn larger marine debris into persistent small particles.
Marine debris ingestion in seabirds : The swallowing of discarded materials by seabirds, which can cause injury, starvation, or death. Seabirds mistake floating plastic fragments and objects for food.
Extended producer responsibility : A policy approach that makes producers responsible for products across their life cycles, including post-consumer waste. It shifts some costs of plastic collection and disposal upstream to producers.
Plastic pollution in the deep sea : Plastic debris found in deep-ocean waters, sediments, and habitats below the sunlit surface. Much debris likely sinks, but its distribution and long-term ecological effects remain incompletely measured.
Riverine plastic emissions : The transport of plastic waste from rivers into coastal waters and the ocean. Rivers carry land-based litter into marine environments.
Coral reef : A marine ecosystem built largely by calcium-carbonate-producing corals and associated organisms. Plastic debris can abrade corals and carry pathogens among reef organisms.
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