6KG OF PLASTIC FOUND IN DEAD WHALE’S STOMACH
A DEAD whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste weighing almost 6kg in its stomach, including drinking cups and thongs.
The “awful” discovery has caused widespread concern in one of the world’s largest plastic-polluting countries.
Rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found the rotting carcass of the 9.5m sperm whale in southeast Sulawesi province after hearing villag- ers had surrounded the dead whale and begun butchering the rotting carcass.
Park chief Heri Santoso said researchers found about 5.9kg of plastic waste in the animal’s stomach.
This included 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, two thongs, a nylon sack and more than 1000 other pieces of plastic.
“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation co-ordinator at WWF Indonesia.
It wasn’t possible to determine if the plastic was responsible because of the advanced state of decay.
Indonesia is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter after China. It produces 3.2 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste a year, 1.29 million tonnes of which ends up in the ocean.