Fishers main culprit as sea plastics surge

Plastic litter in the ocean has trebled since 1990.

Plastic litter in the ocean has trebled since 1990 and the fishing industry is the main culprit.

Scientists examined 60 years of tests on seawater across the North Atlantic and North Sea, and found the proportion of tests recording pieces of plastic larger than 5mm increased from about 1 per cent before 1990 to 2 per cent in the 1990s and 3-4 per cent since 2000.

More than two-thirds of plastic items recorded since 2000 were related to fishing, compared with 55 per cent before. The first plastic bag was detected in 1965; by the 90s, 10 per cent of samples contained bags or fragments of them, rising to 20 per cent in 2000 and then falling.

The study by the University of Plymouth and the Marine Biological Association said the first bag was found in the same decade as the first recordings of seabirds and turtles becoming entangled in plastic.

The Times