115 disposable cups, 25 plastic bags, flip-flops, bottles, rests of nylon rope and synthetic materials: this is what was found in the stomach of a single sperm whale, died Monday on the coast of Kapota Island, Wakatobi archipelago, in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The local marine authorities, together with Wwf and Wakatobi National Park’s rangers, have recovered the body of the animal, already undergoing decomposition, and analyzed the contents of its stomach. Inside there were over a thousand pieces of plastic for a total of almost 13 pounds of this material. It’s another terrible and gruesome postcard that comes from an ocean more and more devastated by plastic pollution. «Although we are not yet able to know the cause of death, the facts we see are really terrible,» said Dwi Suprapti, Wwf Indonesia’s marine species conservation coordinator.
The splendid whale 10 yards long that has swallowed pounds and pounds of polymers has been found in one of the most famous parks in the world, especially among scuba divers, for its marine life, coral reefs, presence of large mammals and whales. In Asia, stuffs like this begin to become quite common, in June for example the death of another cetacean with 80 pieces of plastic waste in his stomach had attracted the attention of the international media. It is, moreover, and in particular some nations, the continent that contributes more to the pollution of the oceans where every year more than eight million tons of plastic end up in water.
China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand alone account for up to 60% of plastic waste poured into the oceans according to Ocean Conservancy. Indonesia, which is trying to reverse the route of environmental degradation, is still in second place behind China. According to an article published in Science at the beginning of the year, 1.29 million tons of plastic waste badly managed in Indonesia are those that end up in the ocean. The government has announced, through various campaigns, to care about the issue: it intends to clean up and reduce, with many investments, 70% of plastic waste by 2025, but the signals coming from the sea indicate that the way to go is really still very long. «It is possible that many other marine animals are contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives – said the government – The great ambition to reduce plastic pollution can only be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy».
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