The carcass of a dead sperm whale washed ashore on a beach in Indonesia. It was a massive animal nearly 31-foot in length and there were plastic products in its stomach. These included hundreds of plastics, and most were of one-time use and throw-away types. Wakatobi National Park chief Heri Santoso has said that the carcass was in a rotting condition.
Daily Mail UK reports that in the opinion of a marine expert at WWF Indonesia, it will be difficult to establish what caused the death of the sperm whale but the plastic waste in its body is significant.
Agencies all over the world are trying to raise awareness about the evils of Plastic Pollution, especially related to marine animals. It is possible that the massive animal died due to ingesting 13lbs of plastic products.
Indonesia wants to reduce the use of plastics
Indonesia is believed to be the second-largest plastic polluter in the world after China. A study published in the journal Science, in January reveals this. The country produces millions of tons of plastic waste a year, and a large portion of it finds its way into the ocean. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a minister of Indonesia, says the discovery of the dead sperm whale should act as an eye-opener.
People must curtail the use of plastic and the government must introduce suitable measures to protect the ocean. He had recently campaigned for the cause and describes plastic as “a common enemy.”
The government of Indonesia is trying out different methods to uproot this evil. One of these is to urge shops to do away with the practice of providing plastic bags for customers. The message has also gone to the schools and they will make all-out efforts to reduce the use of plastic by 70 percent by 2025.
Environmentalists are worried
According to the BBC, the discovery of the dead sperm whale on a beach in Indonesia has raised concerns among environmentalists. It is difficult to establish whether the plastic waste in its stomach had any role to play.
WWF Indonesia has given a breakdown of the items and most are what we use every day and fall in the category of throwaway or single-use plastic.
This is a problem in many countries and the incident of the sperm whale in Indonesia is not a stray case. There are innumerable instances of marine life getting entangled in plastics and dying. A pilot whale died in Thailand in June last after ingesting 80 plastic bags. In Spain, a sperm whale died after ingesting plastic.
Removal of the waste from the oceans is a herculean task and deserves treatment on a priority basis by the whole world. The UN has indicated that an average of 10m tonnes of plastic waste accumulates in the oceans every year.