The trash is endemic of any third world country I have ever visited. It builds up every where and very little organized collection of trash. People mostly uneducated and seemingly uncaring. Sadly the first world countries are no better - IMHO they just hide it better.
The global situation with plastic in our oceans is so sad and my sad personal belief is that it is probably way beyond our capability to do anything about it, given how plastic degrades in sunshine and salt water in ever smaller brittle pieces floating neutrally buoyant at depths. Some pieces so small you need fine mesh nets or plankton nets to collect it.
It is unfortunate for any location and any human being when this gets to be experienced first hand and we start to realize how bad the problem really is.
For most of the year The Bay Islands have wonderfully clean and crystal clear waters but when the rains come on the mainland and the rivers flood, the mountains along the northern coast are cleaned of plastic and the lower lying areas of habitation between the mountains and the sea are scoured clean the result can be flotillas of trash heading out into the Caribbean and then into the Atlantic. This pattern is repeated globally in every country in almost every local area. If you think it doesn't happen in your country it probably just happens below street level.
One report I read recently stated "There are now 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre of the world's oceans, killing a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year.".
That is only counting the big pieces - the bottles, shoes, bags, etc. It doesn't count the tiny brightly colored flecks that drift around below the surface.
Fish and bird stomachs become full of plastic that they can not digest, starving them to death if not killed by bigger pieces of plastic in some other way. This dive center has found one turtle drowned stuck with it's head inside a bucket and flipper through the handle.
As for cruise ships they account for the least amount. Most plastic out there come from the land.
Do a quick search on Google and YouTube but be prepared to shed a tear.
The global situation with plastic in our oceans is so sad and my sad personal belief is that it is probably way beyond our capability to do anything about it, given how plastic degrades in sunshine and salt water in ever smaller brittle pieces floating neutrally buoyant at depths. Some pieces so small you need fine mesh nets or plankton nets to collect it.
It is unfortunate for any location and any human being when this gets to be experienced first hand and we start to realize how bad the problem really is.
For most of the year The Bay Islands have wonderfully clean and crystal clear waters but when the rains come on the mainland and the rivers flood, the mountains along the northern coast are cleaned of plastic and the lower lying areas of habitation between the mountains and the sea are scoured clean the result can be flotillas of trash heading out into the Caribbean and then into the Atlantic. This pattern is repeated globally in every country in almost every local area. If you think it doesn't happen in your country it probably just happens below street level.
One report I read recently stated "There are now 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre of the world's oceans, killing a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year.".
That is only counting the big pieces - the bottles, shoes, bags, etc. It doesn't count the tiny brightly colored flecks that drift around below the surface.
Fish and bird stomachs become full of plastic that they can not digest, starving them to death if not killed by bigger pieces of plastic in some other way. This dive center has found one turtle drowned stuck with it's head inside a bucket and flipper through the handle.
As for cruise ships they account for the least amount. Most plastic out there come from the land.
Do a quick search on Google and YouTube but be prepared to shed a tear.
