The destruction of marine environment takes a serious turn due to steady rise in marine plastic pollution across the seas of Mumbai and Kerela
While we stare in awe at the endless ocean, what we often ignore is the bloodbath that unfolds under the surface. Eight million metric tonnes of plastic flows into the world's oceans each year, silently choking life underwater.
Closer to home, after river Ganga having secured a consistent spot on the world's most polluted rivers list, a global study has revealed that the seas of Mumbai and Kerela are locations with some of the highest marine plastic pollution. Our rivers and drains have been clogged with plastic for ages, this debris gradually finds its way into the sea and poses a huge threat to the marine biodiversity.
Armed with scuba gear, five Chief Executive Officers conducted a 30-minute underwater conference to raise awareness of the grave issue of marine pollution in Kerala.
For the first time, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany have compiled 1,237 scientific researches on marine litter into a single, comprehensive database called Litterbase. As per the study, four prominent beaches of Mumbai - Juhu, Versova, Dadar and Aksa have an average of 68.83 debris items a sqm, the majority (41.85%) being microplastics ranging in size from 1m to 5m. The highest quantity of microplastics was recorded in Juhu beach (55.33%), followed by Versova (28.8%), Dadar (18.6%) and Aksa (7.9%).
From the Vembanad lake in Kerela, microplastics were recovered from almost all sediment samples. The abundance of plastic recovered from this lake - the longest in India, is startling. Armed with scuba gear and other gadgets and a motive to create awareness on the grave issue of marine pollution in Kerela, Chief executive officers (CEOs) of five IT firms conducted a 30-minute underwater conference off the coast of the Kovalam beach, in the Arabian Sea on Monday, 10th April 2017. After training for a week, the CEOs descended at least eight metres into the sea.
"I was shocked at the sight, the ocean is in a pathetic condition," said Raja Gopaal Iyer, CEO of Uday Samudra Group, one of the main organisers of the event. He further says, "Plastic bottles, plastic covers, medicine strips and lead are choking and poisoning our oceans. One person alone cannot make a change, everyone has to come together."
Iyer, with the help of the government, will be launching the 'Beach and Marine Environment Protection Club' on World Ocean Day on June 8, roping in hotels situated on the beach stretching from Kanyakumari to Kasargode.
As a part of the campaign, the club will regularly clean beaches and riverfronts to ensure that litter doesn't enter seas, and also bring together around 200 fishermen families to educate them about the ocean in their local language.
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