Marine Plastic Pollution and Wildlife Welfare: Entanglement, Ingestion and Suffering

Marine plastic pollution causes widespread welfare harm to wildlife through entanglement and ingestion. Understanding the scale and severity of this problem motivates effective action.

Key Facts

An estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world's oceans annually, affecting wildlife at all scales
Marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and fish are all documented victims of plastic entanglement and ingestion
Entanglement in discarded fishing gear, known as ghost gear, is the most lethal form of marine plastic pollution
Seabirds feed plastic fragments to chicks, causing starvation, perforated digestive tracts, and death
Microplastics are now found in the tissues of virtually every marine organism, with poorly understood welfare consequences
Ghost nets continue to catch and drown marine animals for years or decades after being lost or discarded
Over 250 species have been documented suffering entanglement in or ingestion of marine plastic debris

Welfare Considerations

Marine plastic pollution causes welfare harm across a vast range of species and scales, from individual seabirds starving with plastic-filled stomachs to cetaceans drowning in ghost gear. The welfare suffering involved is severe and often prolonged: entangled animals may struggle for hours or days before death, while animals slowly starving with stomachs full of plastic experience chronic suffering. Ingestion of toxic microplastics may cause chronic sub-lethal harm across entire marine ecosystems, affecting individual animal health in ways that are difficult to measure but likely significant. Effective welfare response requires both reducing plastic production and improving waste management to prevent ocean entry, alongside active ghost gear retrieval and coastal cleanup programmes.

What You Can Do

Reduce single-use plastic consumption to decrease plastic waste entering marine environments
Support ghost gear retrieval programmes that remove abandoned fishing equipment from the ocean
Participate in or donate to coastal and ocean cleanup initiatives
Advocate for extended producer responsibility policies that make plastic producers pay for waste management
Support international agreements on plastic pollution that establish binding production reduction targets
Choose seafood from fisheries with documented programmes to prevent and retrieve lost fishing gear