Found off the British coast, a whale killed by our deadly seas full of plastic BANISH
THE BAGS
A WHALE lies dead off the coast of Scotland, a tragic victim of the plastic bags that plague our seas. The 20ft mammal had more than 4kg (9lb) of discarded carriers in its guts including bin liners, zip and freezer bags.
Scientists say it is the first time our rubbish has been identified as the cause of death in a whale washed up off the coast of Britain. Yesterday they warned of the danger posed by the shopping carriers, which are killing whales even though they feed a mile off shore and often a mile deep.
The animal, an adult Cuvier’s beaked whale, was found stranded off the Isle of Skye. Experts found up to 45 bags in its stomach – which they say caused painful inflammation and led to the distressed mammal drifting into dangerously shallow water.
In a similar case in Norway, another Cuvier’s beaked whale was found stranded on a beach near Bergen with large numbers of plastic bags in its stomach.
Some rubbish was from the UK – including a multipack wrapper of Walker’s crisps. However, it was not clear to what extent the bags contributed to the death of the animal, which was dubbed ‘Plasthvalen’ – the Plastic Whale.
an examination of the Skye whale was carried out by Dr andrew Brownlow, of the Scottish Marine animal Stranding Scheme. He said of the plastic: ‘For every one of these pieces it is possible that there would have been some form of human action that could have stopped it from getting into the marine environment.
‘If you assume that what this whale has done is sample a small section of ocean, then this is astonishing. This was an animal that went to places that are very difficult for us to go and sample and sadly paid pretty much the ultimate price for that.’
His colleague Mariel ten Does- chate said the Skye stranding is the first recorded where eating plastic bags has been the direct cause of death out of 4,000 cases.
But she said: ‘Nevertheless this case as well as the whale ... in Norway ... may suggest that this species and the way they behave and/ or feed makes them particularly vulnerable to the effects of plastic in the marine environment.
‘and of course any one animal that dies from the effects of plastic debris is one too many.’
The Daily Mail has long campaigned to stop plastic waste polluting the environment. We successfully called for a charge on plastic carriers with our Banish the Bags campaign.
Now our Banish the Bottles drive is focusing on a deposit scheme to stop the items spoiling our seas, beaches and countryside.
Researchers believe whales are eating plastic shopping carriers because they mistake them for squid while hunting in the depths of the ocean.
Cuvier’s beaked whales are able to dive down to 3,000m (10,000ft) for more than two hours, and are seldom found in shallow waters close to mainland shores. Miss ten Doeschate added that in the Skye case the plastic had caused painful irritation of the stomach and intestinal walls, causing the animal to drift into shallower waters and become stranded.
She said the Bergen whale had also swallowed a significant mass of bags – but in that case it blocked the stomach and the animal starved to death. Jan Vindenes, who first saw the whale from his house above the cove, was part of the desperate effort to save it. It was too tired to swim,’ he said. ‘It was trying to find a place for his final rest. He came here to die.’
Hanneka Meijer, of Bergen University, said the whale was around 20ft long and weighed under two tons – considerably below average for its age. after the mammal’s stomach was cut open they found more than 30 pieces of plastic. Miss Meijer said: ‘That’s when it hit us. We have a plastic whale.’
as well as wrappers from the UK, rubbish came from Denmark and Ukraine. Walker’s said it recognised the problem of plastics in the ocean and is looking into creating biodegradable packaging.