Trash Talking: Marine Trash and Us28 March 2014

Does Singapore city have marine

life?

Green Turtle, Pulau Hantu, Mar 2005Photo by Jani Thuaibah

Jani Thuaibah

The dugong or sea cow, is found in Singapore waters too, where they feed on sea grass.Dept Environment & Heritage, Government of Australia

Indo-pacific Bottlenose Dolphin(Tursiops aduncus)Straits of Singapore

Photo by Con Foley, 2012

Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin

Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin

Giant mudskipper(Periophthalmodon schlosseri)

Sungei Buloh Wetlands ReserveN. Sivasothi, 2009

Monitor Lizard(Varanus salvator)

Pulau UbinN. Sivasothi, 2009

Tree-climbing crab, (Episesarma singaporensis)Sungei Mandai mangrove

N. Sivasothi, 2011

Smooth-coated otters atSungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve,residential population since 1998

Photo by Marcus Ng aka ‘Budak’, 2011

What’s happening to our ocean and

marine life?

Life Magazine 1955 – “Throw away living”

Thompson, R. C., Swan, S. H., Moore, C. J., & vom Saal, F. S. (2009). Our plastic age. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal

Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1973-1976.

Plastic threats

• ‘One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics’.

• The most substantial use of plastics today, (> 1/3 of production) is for disposable items of packaging, most of which are discarded within a year or so of manufacture.

Picture by Chris Jordan

The problem with plastics

• Non-biodegradable

• “Plastics are accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural

habitats worldwide.”

• “Current use not sustainable”

• ‘. . . plastic production continues to grow at approximately 9 per

cent per annum.’

Thompson, Richard C., Charles J. Moore, Frederick S. vom Saal & Shanna H. Swan, 2009. Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, Biological Sciences, 364 (1526): 2153-2166.

Thompson, R. C., Swan, S. H., Moore, C. J., & vom Saal, F. S. (2009). Our plastic age. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1973-1976.

Los Angeles (Altered Oceans, LA Times)

Mandai mangrove, Singapore(N. Sivasothi)

Tanah Merah, 05 May 2013

Gladys Chua, ICCS

Only 20 percent of the plastic in the oceans comes from ships or offshore platforms. The rest orignates from land.

Photo from Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin by Andy Dinesh

The Pacific Trash Vortex

Different types of marine trash cause different

problems• Very large pieces - huge, abandoned drift nets or ‘ghost nets’

and dumping cause entanglement of animals, suppression of plant growth

• Large pieces - from car fenders down to plastic bottles, suppress growth

• Macro-fragments - ingested by larger animals such as albatross and other seabirds, turtles, fish

• Micro-fragments - ingested by fish, transport invasive species and chemicals

Photo credit:Seal: Lucasa, Z., 1992. Monitoring persistent litter in the marine environment on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 24(4): 192-199.Horseshoe crab: N. Sivasothi. Mandai Besar mangrove,27 May 2009Dead albatross: Midway: Message from the Gyre by Chris Jordan

A threat to marine life looms on our shores, locally and globallyEntanglement, Ingestion,

Suffocation, Suppression, Toxins, Transport of Chemicals…

Photo credit: UNEP

Entanglement of wildlife

Entanglement of marine animals

Photo credits: Rolf Ream National Marine Mammal Laboratory (top right); Habitatnews (bottom)

Entanglement of marine animals

300 horseshoe crabs in a single gill net.

Mandai Besar mangrove,27 May 2009

N. Sivasothi

Entanglement of wildlife

Badly entangled flukes of a humpback whale– Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, United States

Entanglement of wildlife

Plastic canvas in stomachof a dead sperm whale.

Donana Biological Station, Spanish National Research Council, 28 Mar 2012 (EBD-CSIC/AFP, 07 Mar 2013)

Ingestion of plastics

17kg of garbage blocking stomach, including:- some 30 m2 of plastic canvas, - a dozen metres of plastic rope, - plastic sheeting,- two flower pots.

“It did not surprise us” - Renaud de Stephanis, a

marine biologist at the Donana Biological Station

“Turtles have been found to have eaten most plastic items, but the most common items

eaten are:soft plastics, such as plastic

bags and lolly wrappers, and pieces of hard broken-down

plastic”

Dr Kathy Townsend, Moreton Bay, Australia

fb: Turtles in Trouble

Photos by Kathy Townsend

Ingestion of plastics

Midway Atoll, Pacific

Wikipedia: Midway Atoll

Ingestion of plastics

Laysan albatross(Phoebastria immutabilis) Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

David Patte/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Chris Jordan’s“Midway: Message from the Gyre”

http://www.midwayjourney.com (video can be found in YouTube)

How is this impacting you

and me?

Thompson, Richard C., Charles J. Moore, Frederick S. vom Saal & Shanna H. Swan, 2009. Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, Biological Sciences, 364 (1526): 2153-2166.

Thompson, R. C., Swan, S. H., Moore, C. J., & vom Saal, F. S. (2009). Our plastic age. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1973-1976.

Microplastics• There is evidence that plastics are fragmenting in the

environment and, as a consequence, will become available for ingestion by a wider range of organisms (Barnes et al. 2009)

• The ingestion of plastic debris could lead to the transfer of toxic chemicals to wildlife and to food chain. Recent publications have raised new concerns around this issue.

Captain Charles Moore

No Fishmonger on Earth can serve you a certified organic wild caught fish.

“Plastic Soup”

Concentrate organic pollutants up to a million times the ambient level in sea water.

Fish are eating the plastic

Concentration of toxics are the highest at the top of the food chain because toxics in our food has accumulated as it goes up the food chain.

The problem will only get worse

Thanks to Won Joon Shim, Oil and POPs Research Group, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Republic of South Korea, for this slide.

What can we do?

Year Round Cleanups,International Coastal Cleanup

Singapore

Get out there and

clean a beach!

http://coastalcleanup.nus.edu.sg

I REFUSE TO ACCEPT I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!THIS!

What can we do?

International Coastal Cleanup SingaporeStarted by Ocean Conservancy in 1986

Volunteers in Singapore have been battling marine trash since 1992

Reclamation

Reclamation

Reservoir

Army

PROTECTED

Army

4,000 volunteers >60 organisations

Proper disposal of waste!

Don’t Litter!

What can we do?

Zero Waste Singapore with data from NEA“It is ethically wrong that more than 80 per cent of our waste

consists of recyclable material … yet so little of that is recycled,”- Minister for the Environment and Water Resources

Vivian Balakrishnan, 02 July 2013

Throwaway lifestyle is the cause of marine trash!

One-time-use plastic - Something that is used for 5 minutes of convenience

but lasts for hundreds of years!

Reduce!!!

Personal habits• Refuse plastic bags• Bring your own water• Bring your own coffee mug/container• Battle consumerism culture!

What can we do?

Good job Pamela Soo & friends!

Communicate– – facebook– – blog– – newsletters

Personal habits

What can we do?

Encourage(Family, Workplace)

“higher returns”Observe cleanliness, daily resource use

Suggest better practices

Moderate room temperatures (air-con), recycling (paper and others), etc

What can we do?

Encourage Event catering

– – recyclable utensils, – – less food, – – vegetarian options– – do we need goodie bags?

Green audit

What can we do?

Public Hygiene Council - http://phc.sg

Action (nationally, globally) Write in to ask for reductions

Consumers are a potent force! Speak up - question food wastage,

excess plastic use, paper waste. Share solutions!

What can we do?

Creative expression

“We do not inherit the earth from our

ancestors; we borrow it from our

children” ― Chief Seattle

Thank you!