A group of researchers determined that plastic pollution is being mistaken for food by whales that hunt with soundwaves, leading to disastrous results.
What's happening?
As Phys.org explained, a study that conducted underwater acoustic testing on plastic beach trash found that certain items sound similar to the fish that many species of whales rely on for sustenance in the dark depths of the ocean.
"These acoustic signatures are similar, and this might be a reason that these animals are driven to consume plastic instead of, or in addition to, their prey," Duke University graduate student Greg Merrill, who led the research published in a paper appearing online in Marine Pollution Bulletin, said.
Deep-diving whales, such as sperm whales, pygmy sperm whales, and goose-beaked whales, rely on soundwaves to identify their prey, a system that Phys.org said has been used for 25 million years.
However, typical ocean plastic pollution like shopping bags, ropes, and bottles are routinely found in the stomachs of stranded whales and other animals because they are misinterpreting these items for food.
"One hundred percent of plastic marine debris tested have either similar or stronger acoustic target strengths compared with that of whale prey items," the authors of the paper reported.
Why is this important?
Plastic pollution is a significant challenge that has long plagued our oceans. According to CNN, a study determined that the world's oceans are being polluted by an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles.
Whales and other marine animals are already unknowingly ingesting millions of pieces of microplastics daily, but the issue presented by Merrill and his team of researchers raises new concerns.
The plastic trash tested in the study "almost always sounded like food, especially plastic films and fragments of plastic, two particularly noisy items that are most often found in dead whales," per Phys.org.
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"There are hundreds of types of plastic, and the various material properties including polymer (chemical) composition, additives, shape, size, age/weathering, and degree of fouling likely play a role in the frequency-specific responses observed," the authors stated.
What's being done about this?
Phys.org raised the possibility of re-engineering some plastics so they don't carry an acoustic signature, but Merrill pushed back on that method and noted it would carry a new set of dangers.
"But I don't think that's really a viable option, because then, if fishing net and fishing line are invisible, those are things that whales get entangled with, too. So we don't want them to not be able to identify those things," Merrill said.
You can reduce your contributions to plastic pollution through simple actions such as using reusable water bottles, avoiding single-use plastics, and supporting initiatives to clean up our oceans.
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