Attenborough: Plastic menace is so bad birds are feeding it to their young
SEABIRDS have started feeding their chicks with scraps of plastic in a shocking example of how polluted the world’s oceans have become, David Attenborough has revealed.
Describing how his team recorded evidence of the problem for his new documentary series, the renowned broadcaster and naturalist said: ‘Plastics are of crucial importance – it is heartbreaking.
‘Which example do you choose as being most heartbreaking? I would choose, because I feel so strongly for them, a sequence with the albatross.
‘There is a shot of the young being fed and what comes out of the beak of the adult? Not sand eels, not fish and not squid, which is what they mostly eat, but plastic. It’s heartbreaking.’
Attenborough, 91, was speaking to Greenpeace before the launch of his BBC series Blue Planet II, and the problem has been confirmed by the environmental campaign group.
It has collected images of gannets feeding plastic to their young off the coast of Scotland as well as puffins with scraps of it in their beaks.
Greenpeace released the interview with the knighted broadcaster to mark the launch of its new investigative and environmental news platform, Unearthed.
During a voyage around the Scottish coast, the group documented plastic pollution in the feeding grounds of basking sharks, in the habitats of puffins, seals and whales, and in the nests and beaks of seabirds.
Its team found plastic bottles, bags and packaging in iconic seabird colonies in areas such as the Bass Rock, Isle of May and the Shiant Isles.
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Louise Edge said: ‘David Attenborough’s words will strike a chord with anyone who has ever witnessed the harm plastic pollution is causing to marine life, whether it’s a turtle tan- gled up in plastic or a whale’s stomach full of carrier bags.
‘With a truckload of plastic being dumped in our oceans every minute, this has now become a global environmental crisis stretching from the Arctic shores to remote islands in the South Pacific and Britain’s own coastline.
‘Coming from one of the world’s greatest living naturalists, Sir David’s words should be a wakeup call for governments and corporations that we need real action now to stop plastic waste choking our seas.’
Research from the University of Plymouth found that more than one in three fish caught by trawler in the English Channel, including cod, haddock and mackerel, contained plastic particles, most likely from their diet. Some 83% of Norway lobsters caught off the UK coast and sold as scampi contained microplastic debris.
Studies at England’s University of Exeter have also found that the entire food chain of sea creatures – from minuscule zooplankton to crustaceans, mussels, crabs, lobster and fish – has in effect been contaminated by microplastics.
The Irish Daily Mail has highlighted the dangers to the environment, wildlife and food posed by plastic through campaigns calling for a ban on the use of microbeads in beauty products, such as face washes and shower scrubs, and the introduction of a plastic bottle deposit scheme.
Attenborough’s comments come as the Government here faces pressure to tackle plastic waste and boost recycling. Following the Scottish government announcing at the start of the month that it intended to push ahead with a deposit and refund scheme for plastic bottles and drinks cans, the Labour and the Green parties here demanded support for their legislation, which is already before the Dáil.
Under it, Ireland – which led the way in introducing a plastic bag tax in 2002 – would have a 10 cent Deposit Return Scheme for plastic drinks bottles and tin cans.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has called on the Government to ‘get behind’ the party’s Waste Reduction Bill and said if the Scottish can do it, so can we. He added: ‘All we need is the political will from Government to see this commonsense Bill enacted.’
‘This should be a wake-up call’