Plastic in our seas to treble in decade if not acted on

THE amount of plastic ending up in the ocean is set to treble in a decade if no action is taken to curb the problem, a major report has warned.

Plastic is one of a number of environmental issues facing the world’s seas, along with rising sea levels and warming oceans, and metal and chemical pollution, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government said.

But there are also opportunities for the UK to cash in on the global “ocean economy”, which is set to double to $3trillion (£2trillion) by 2030, in areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind.

The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being “out of sight, out of mind”, with more known about the surfaces of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed.

But it is hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by sub-sea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food.

There are major opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to fill gaps in understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, the experts said.

Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to change the attitude of what goes on below the surface as “out of sight, out of mind” and to have more of a “Mission to Planet Ocean” approach.

Plastic pollution is expected to treble between 2015 and 2025 without intervention.