Attenborough: We’ve turned
The world’s oceans are turning into a toxic soup of industrial waste and plastic, putting humanity at risk.
That is the scale of man’s impact on the planet lain bare by Sir David Attenborough in the final episode of his groundbreaking BBC wildlife documentary Blue Planet II.
The episode, to air in Britain this weekend, shows the horrifying death of an albatross whose gut is punctured by a plastic toothpick, as well as potentially lethal polythene bags and plastic found in a chick’s stomach.
A necropsy performed on a dolphin shows that the young female had high levels of manmade toxins in its tissues, which led to its death.
Dolphins are at the top of the food chain and experts believe that adults ingest so much plastic that their offspring may be contaminated by their own mother’s milk.
Attenborough said: “Since its invention some 100 years ago, plastic has become an integral part of our daily lives, but every year some 8 million tons [7.26 million tonnes] of it ends up in the ocean.
“While filming Blue Planet II, the crews found plastic in every ocean, even in the most remote locations.
“Once in the ocean, plastic breaks down into tiny fragments, micro plastics.
“With industrial chemicals which have drained into the ocean, these form a potentially toxic soup.
“Industrial pollution and discarding of plastic waste must be tackled for the sake of all life in the ocean. Surely we have a responsibility to care for our planet. The future of humanity and indeed all life on earth, now depends on us.” The world’s oceans are drowning in human rubbish. More than 270 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally annually, and 10 per cent ends up in the sea. In the worst areas, there are a million pieces of plastic for every square mile [2.59sq km] and it is estimated there is a 1:2 ratio of plastic to plankton which, left unchecked, will outweigh fish within 35 years.
For the final episode, the film-makers travelled to South Georgia, a British overseas territory in the Southern Atlantic Ocean that is home to a large albatross colony. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has studied the colony for