Marine Mammals and Plastics in the Ocean
- Pollution
- Ocean trash
Abstract
The global mass production and use of plastics over the past 70 years has resulted in profound effects on human, animal and ecosystem health. The impact of plastic waste on human and terrestrial animal health and welfare is more commonly noted and described while marine environment impacts are less well studied. Plastics are found in waters throughout the world but, due to the vast expanse and depth of oceans and other bodies of water with relatively minimal exploration, the effects are neither well documented nor understood. Marine mammals inhabit all oceans as well as many freshwater systems, and are often referred to as sentinel species for human and other animal health given their trophic level in these environments. In this chapter we dive into the different forms of plastic documented in the marine environment, the reported effects of plastic on marine mammals as a model for numerous other aquatic species and the marine environment and how the One Health approach to human and animal health helps us better understand and assess past, current and future impacts on both individual- and population-level health.
Field, C., Duignan, P. (2024) ‘Marine mammals and plastics in the ocean’, in Cork, S. and Whiteside, D. (eds.) Case Studies in Ecohealth: Examining the Interaction between Animals and their Environment. Essex: 5m Books Ltd., pp. 256-273.
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{"image":"\/People\/Portrait\/cara-field.jpg","alt":"Cara Field","title":"Cara Field","text":"Senior Director, Conservation Medicine","link_url":"https:\/\/www.marinemammalcenter.org\/person\/cara-field","link_text":"Read Bio"}
{"image":"\/People\/Portrait\/cropped-images\/PD_Gray whale Pacifica_IMG_0552-0-0-1270-992-1775170630.jpeg","alt":"Padraig Duignan","title":"P\u00e1draig Duignan","text":"Senior Director, Research Pathology","link_url":"https:\/\/www.marinemammalcenter.org\/person\/padraig-duignan","link_text":"Read Bio"}
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