Scientists find plastic in creatures living at the bottom of deepest ocean on Earth

An analysis showed that each creature was found to have consumed some form of manmade material, including the plastics Nylon, PVC, and PVA.

(Representational image)

New Delhi: Plastic waste has been polluting oceans and other water bodies, putting the lives of marine animals in danger.

According to a deeply concerning report, scientists have discovered traces of manmade fibers and plastics inside the stomachs of sea creatures living at the bottom of the deepest ocean on Earth for the first time.

While scientists have previously warned about the increasing amount of plastic in oceans around the world, these results come as a shock and signify that no part of the world’s oceans now remains untouched by human waste.

As per the Independent, scientists from Newcastle University tested crustaceans at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, known as Challenger Deep. At 10,890 metres below sea level it is the remotest part of the world’s oceans.

Each creature was found to have consumed some form of manmade material, including the plastics Nylon, PVC, and PVA.

Dr Alan Jamieson, professor in marine ecology and the study’s lead, said the results were “immediate and startling”.

“There were instances where the fibres could actually be seen in the stomach contents as they were being removed,” he said.

“We felt we had to do this study given the unique access we have to some of the most remote places on Earth, and we are using these samples to make a poignant statement about mankind’s legacy.”

Researchers first found poisonous chemicals, banned in the 1970s and thought to have spread through plastic debris, in the deepest part of our oceans in February.

That was when it was realised that manmade waste had got into crustaceans' bodies through their fatty tissue.

90 crustaceans in the ultra-deep trenches spanning the Pacific Ocean – the Mariana, Japan, Izu-Bonin, Peru-Chile, New Hebrides and Kermadec trenches – were analysed by the team and samples were collected.

It was found that all the creatures had ingested some form of artificial fiber or plastic, ranging from 50 percent in the New Hebrides to 100 percent in the Mariana.

An estimated 300 million tonnes of plastic now litters the oceans, with more than five trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons currently floating on the surface. It is estimated there will be more plastic than fish by 2050.

Deep-sea animals which will eat “just about anything” are dependent on food raining down from the surface.

It is thought our seas now contain about 51 trillion microplastic particles – 500 times more than the number of stars in our galaxy.

This pollution is harming more than 600 species worldwide amid what many are now regarding as the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth.

Plastic waste is a menace that is the result of industrialization and to an extent, human activities, without realizing that it ends up affecting our health as well.

Plastic is considered inexpensive and durable, which is why it is most commonly used for packaging.

However, due to its slow degradation process, plastics can severely affect living organisms, especially marine life, through entanglement, direct ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that cause interruptions in biological functions.