Cheal Holidays in Maldives
A report by Maldives Minivan News
From polythene bags to nappies, a growing tide of plastic is destroying beaches and harming coral reefs and marine life in the Maldives. Talk to any marine biologist in the country and you will hear tales of plastic bags smothering corals, or turtles mistaking holiday maldives 2012 plastic bags for jellyfish and swallowing them whole.
I dive pretty much every day and come back with plastic bottles and bags, says Abbie Hine, a marine biologist at Four Seasons. Theres a lot of stuff down there and with the incredible marine life here it gets ingested by a lot of animals.
Most plastic is not biodegradable and remains in the oceans for centuries. Naturally buoyant, it gets carried across vast distances, breaking down into successively smaller particles which are ingested by creatures lower and lower down the food chain. Throw in the effects of climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing, and marine animals appear to be fighting a losing battle. Scientists are now saying theres more plastic than plankton in the ocean, says Hine.
Hussein Zahir, a senior reef ecologist at the Marine Research Centre, attributes the rise in plastic debris to a change in lifestyle in the Maldives. While consumption of inorganic goods, such as bottled water, has increased, he says, waste disposal methods have remained the same.
Traditionally, waste has been disposed of at designated areas on the beach, or piled up on uninhabited parts of an island for natural composition. But in reality, most of it ends up in the sea. The word for beach in Dhivehi, godudhoh, literally means dumping site. People think that the ocean is a big waste bin, says Mairyam Shafiya, assistant research officer at the Marine Research Centre. A report on marine litter published by the United Nations male maldives photos Environment Agency in June, notes that one of the main sources of marine litter around he world is from dumpsites located near the coast.
Sea Turtle in the Maldives
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