Plastic pollution could treble in a decade

The amount of plastic ending up in the ocean is set to treble in a decade without action to curb the problem, a report has warned.

Plastics 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 3 trillion US dollars (£2 trillion) 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”.

But it is hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea 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.

For example, the submarine Boaty McBoatface has recently completed an unmanned mission under Antarctica’s ice shelf to assess whether the ice is melting from below due to warmer seas.