azwhales
This afternoon, after a day of unfavorable sea conditions, we went to the sea. First we encountered a group of bottlenose dolphins, a little spread out and, a little later, a group of Risso’s dolphins, very sociable and active on the surface and… full of juveniles!
During our trip we collected a large fishing net called “ghost net”. It’s always important to note that objects such as this, or even various types of plastic (bags, straws, bottles, balloons), glass or metals, collected during several of our trips, are a major threat in biodiversity and on our oceans.
Every year, 640,000 tonnes of fishing nets are discarded or lost in the sea, with devastating impacts to marine life, as they can last 600 years in the ocean. It’s estimated that these “ghost nets” capture and kill 136,000 seals, sea lions, turtles and large whales every year. It is also estimated that about 8 million garbage items are dumped into the oceans and seas every day and more than 13,000 plastic objects are in every square kilometer of ocean.
Nowadays these estimates are alarming and it’s essential to take care of our oceans, which harbor an enormous diversity of species, but also of our the planet Earth. We can help, by recycling and reducing the use of plastic products, for example.
Risso’s dolphin
Playful dolphins
“Ghost net”
azwhales
Equipa de Biólogos da Futurismo
Sandrina Rodrigues
