3-year Study Of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Reveals "chronic" Plastic Levels

SYDNEY, Aug. 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Aug, 2022 ) APP):Researchers from Australia's James Cook University (JCU) have discovered high levels of plastic in the country's oceans presenting a chronic risk to the world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and the biodiversity it supports.

The team, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), released the three-year study on Wednesday.

Published in the Environmental Pollution journal, from 66 seawater samples of Australia's northeast coast, the research found plastic at all levels of the ocean including in the GBR.

Contributing researcher and marine biologist at JCU, Professor Mark Hamann, told Xinhua that the breakthrough of the research was understanding the rate that plastics enter the ocean.

"We estimate that by 2030 there will be a yearly input of between 20 and 53 million metric tons of plastic into aquatic eco-systems, with the associated risks likely to increase by roughly 50 percent in some marine environments," said Hamann.

A particular point of concern was the abundance of microplastics, plastics that have broken down to sizes under five millimeters.

"Pieces (of plastic) just keep getting smaller and smaller. And what happens is, the smaller the piece of plastic means that it can be eaten by a broader number of animals or things in the environment." For the GBR this could be particularly devastating as even the smallest fish or corals could absorb the microplastics.

The study also found that the presence of plastics surged following weather events such as strong winds or heavy rainfall, which would be an important step in accurately measuring plastic levels.

"It can enable different kinds of management and mitigation if we know that these rainfall events are serious pulses and we can put steps in place to manage the floating debris that's going out in the rivers at the certain time," He said, adding that this could include things such as storm water blocks or catchments in rivers.

The team of researchers plan to continue to monitor microplastic flows and the impact they have on the marine food chain.