Aquarium Joins Fight Against Plastic Pollution

Kirt Ramirez
THE DOCUMENTARY  “Midway: Message from the Gyre” shows plastics in an albatross chick’s stomach, which is normal for the Midway Islands.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is doing its part to tackle the problem of plastic pollution.

The popular sea-life museum announced July 10 that it has joined forces with 18 other aquariums across the country in a new Aquarium Conservation Partnership (ACP) to address plastic waste, which threatens ocean and freshwater animals.

“Today, the ACP announced the launch of a nationwide consumer campaign and a business commitment to drive a shift away from single-use plastic among their visitors, in their communities, and beyond,” reads an Aquarium of the Pacific press release of the national movement.

“Through the national ‘In Our Hands’ campaign, the ACP hopes to empower their 20 million visitors and millions more in their communities to drive a national shift away from single-use plastic and toward innovative alternatives,” the release says.

All 19 aquariums belonging to the ACP have taken immediate action.

“As of today, all ACP members have eliminated plastic straws and single-use plastic take-away bags in their institutions,” the release states.

The aquariums across America also have committed to significantly reducing or eliminating the sale of plastic beverage bottles by December 2020 and showcase in their facilities innovative alternatives to single-use plastic.

Lots of plastic enters the ocean, rivers and Great Lakes each year, which creatures can eat and are harmed as a result.

About 8.8 million tons of plastic goes into the ocean annually worldwide – roughly a dump truck of plastic every minute, every day, the Aquarium of the Pacific points out.

Lakes and rivers also are littered with plastic trash. In fact, the levels can be just as high if not higher than in oceanic gyres that concentrate plastic debris, according to the media release.

For example, Lake Michigan has an estimated one billion particles of plastic on its surface.

“Approximately 22 million pounds of plastic flows into the Great Lakes each year – in Lake Michigan alone, it is equivalent to 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with bottles,” Shedd Aquarium in Chicago President and CEO Bridget Coughlin said in a statement. “Small actions can turn into big solutions, and we believe the 24 million people in the United States who rely on this beautiful, massive resource for their drinking water, jobs, and livelihoods want to be part of that wave of change. We look forward to working together in these commitments.”

Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific President and CEO, Jerry Schubel, spoke to the Beachcomber by phone.

“You have to start somewhere,” he said, when asked if the 19 aquariums will make a difference. “People who go to aquariums tend to be interested in the ocean and marine life and the Great Lakes and freshwater life. If you look at the number of people that go to these 19 aquariums, it’s certainly beyond 25 million people a year.

“The hope is that by having these 25 or 30 million people see what we’re doing, that they will think about doing things in their own lives. And so I think it’s possible that it can make a difference.”

Schubel said the next challenge would be to ratchet up the North American campaign to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, as about 90 percent of the plastics in the world ocean originate in Asia.

Asked why plastics are so harmful to the oceans, rivers and Great Lakes, Schubel responded:

“Plastics have very long lifetimes. They don’t biodegrade. They break up physically into smaller and smaller pieces and so they’re found throughout the world ocean and throughout all of our rivers and lakes. Animals can get entangled in them; they can ingest them, cause intestinal blockage.”

Schubel said some of the small particles, which absorb contaminant in the water, could be passed up the food chain to people who eat seafood.

Glass and anything that is reusable is a good option for people to use, even plastic reusable water bottles. It’s the single-use plastic that is discouraged, Schubel added.

“Over 95 percent of all the bottles that we now sell in the aquarium, they get recycled,” Schubel said. “But that’s not true of society as a whole. So we want to set an example and we will phase out our use of plastic soft drink bottles and water bottles.”

He added, “Any little bit that we can do is a positive step in the right direction.”

Sobering photos and videos can be found online of researchers cutting open dead sea birds and finding the bellies chock-full of plastic pieces. Horrific images of sea turtles, sea lions and other sea life entangled in plastic and other debris also can be found.

Captain Charles Moore, founder of Algalita Marine Research and Education, has studied marine pollution and wrote the book “Plastic Ocean.” He said plastic debris can even be seen as the number one threat to the planet.

Twenty years ago the captain, a Long Beach native, discovered by accident what is now referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – an area of floating plastic trash twice the size of Texas. He made the discovery while boating from Hawaii to California on his 50-foot catamaran via the rarely-traveled North Pacific Gyre. Moore and his team of researchers have since studied the plastic topic intensely.

The public can learn more about Algalita’s research and expeditions at www.algalita.org.

kirt@beachcomber.news

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