Not Even The Land, The Deepest Sea Is Polluted Too

Crustasea That Contminated By Plastic (Newcastle University)

As we know, the garbage in this world is growing every day. And apparently, no place escapes plastic pollution. Even in the deepest seabed of the earth, researchers still find microplastic in the intestinal crustacea.

"Waste that is dumped into the ocean will eventually be swept back to shore or sink into the deep ocean," said Alan Jamieson, marine ecologist from Newcastle University in the UK, as quoted by Live Science, Thursday (16/11/2017).

In February, Jamieson and his team shared their findings in the journal Nature Evolution and Ecology. In the journal, he revealed if the troughs had been contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

PCB is an oily and sticky chemical element that is widely used in various industries. However, the actual use of this material has been banned since 1979 because it is feared toxic. Meanwhile, PBDE used as a fire extinguisher is also prohibited as it may affect the reproductive, immune or nervous system.

Jamieson found both of these elements in crustaceans living at 10,000 meters deep in the Kermadec Trench in the South Pacific and north of the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,250 meters. After doing the study, Jamieson found many questions about plastic contamination in both troughs. They decided to re-examine both the trough and the other trough.

Researchers use the trap that is drowned into the bottom of the deepest trough with the bait and camera. Once the animal is trapped, then the trap will automatically rise to the surface. Researchers took samples from six troughs, namely Mariana, Japan, Izu-Bonin, Peru-Chile, New Hebrides and Kermadec. In total there are 90 crustaceans collected from the six troughs.

Of all the samples collected, the researchers found none that were free of plastic. The lowest contamination levels are found in New Hebrides, while the highest contamination rates are present in the Mariana trough. In addition to plastics, researchers found pieces of fiber such as rayon, lyocell, hemp and nylon in the intestinal crustacean.

From a study conducted in 2014, at least about 5 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the ocean, weighing more than 250,000 tons. The river alone accounts for 2.4 million tons of plastic into the ocean each year and 86 percent of this plastic pollution comes from rivers, rivers in Asia.

"Our observations indicate if microplastic absorption takes place in the deep ocean as well, proving otherwise there might be a marine ecosystem unaffected with the remnants of manmade pollution," Jamieson said.

If it goes on like this about what will happen on earth in the future huh?

source : sains.kompas.com