Snorkeling is a spectacular way to marvel at marine life in its domain. That makes it extra frustrating to see people bringing plastic from our domain on land and carelessly discarding it in the ocean.
Popular scuba-diving content creator Shane Brown (@shangerdanger) shared a video on YouTube of a dive he did to clean up litter at a "popular snorkeling spot."
In the footage, Brown first finds a fishing weight that is caught on some line in the coral. He then discovers its hook wedged under a rock. Next up are multiple pipe cleaners that he theorizes "got leaked out from the power plant."
Next is a piece of plastic from what he guesses was a first-aid kit.
"To a turtle, this could look like a jellyfish, so it's so dangerous to leave it in the ocean," Brown remarks. Turtles have been rescued from plastic before.
The last find is a partially opened plastic bag of ice. As he demonstrates, a fish could easily swim into it and get suffocated.
"We can't keep letting plastic get into the ocean, and I'm doing my part to take it out," he concludes.
Plastic pollution in the ocean is a major environmental issue. The scope of the problem is staggering, with a study indicating there are 170 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the most egregious examples of it.
As Brown pointed out, plastic imperils marine life and claims the lives of over 100 million ocean animals a year. It can also move species far from their native areas, acting as an unwanted life raft.
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Plastics also shed microplastics that are disturbingly going further out into the deepest parts of the ocean floor. As much as 12 million tons of it are resting on the ocean floor.
On the positive side, Brown and like-minded folks are making a difference. For instance, an inspiring partnership between a monk in Thailand, an entrepreneur, and a "Hippo" boat is set to remove three million pounds of plastic from rivers annually. A nonprofit, the Ocean Cleanup, has removed 17 million pounds of it themselves and counting.
Commenters on YouTube saluted Brown and empathized with his sentiments.
"We need more to clean the ocean," one chimed in.
Another shared: "When I go to the beach, I take a bag, walk, and pick up trash. Cig butts, straws, whatever. Usually I fill my bag!"
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