Forty kilograms of selected plastic debris have been found inside the stomach of a juvenile Cuvier’s beaked whale which recently washed ashore dead in Barangay Cadunan, Philippines.
The necropsy revealed a multiple selection of items inside the stomach of the marine mammal, including 16 rice sacks, a plastic bag used in banana plantations and multiple shopping bags. Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley, owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum and who conducted the necropsy said it was the largest amount of plastic materials he has found in a whale over the past 10 years.
This is not the first whale to die because of widespread plastic pollution – and sadly it won’t be the last. Around the world, hundreds of dolphins, whales and other marine life including sea turtles, die each year due to being entangled in plastic or ingesting it when they are feeding. Even those living many miles from the coast are adding to the problem as plastic still makes its way into the sea, therefore it is vital we all cut down on the plastic we buy because if not, by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight and needless deaths will continue.
