A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers shows that nearly 23% of short-finned pilot whales that stranded over 13 years in the main Hawaiian Islands ingested several pounds of plastic ropes, netting, fishing gear and plastic bags that were discarded in the ocean.
Published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, the study was led by the UH Health and Stranding Lab within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience. Researchers examined the stomachs and digestive tracts of 13 stranded short-finned pilot whales; necropsies of three adult males revealed large masses of tangled plastic debris inside their stomachs.
The recovered debris was estimated at 4 to 12 pounds per whale, yielding a staggering 6,283 to 35,543 distinct plastic pieces larger than 5 millimeters—about the width of a standard pencil eraser—per individual.
Source: ENN
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