According to a recent study, whales swallow millions of these particles per day, making them the planet’s largest consumers of plastic waste at the moment. The study took into account the many natural ecosystems found all around the world and included blue, fin, and humpback whales.
The study states blue whales end up ingesting approximately 10 million pieces of plastic per day, which translates to a potential daily intake of over 230 kg of plastic during the feeding season. The report stated that the whole consumption may exceed 500 kg, depending on how contaminated the environment is.
‘What we found was surprising – really high numbers of daily plastic ingestion,’ Dr Shirel Kahane Rapport at California State University, Fullerton, who led the study said.
‘We imagine that it will have some sort of impact but we don’t know the exact health effects. This is the first step to figuring that out,’ she added while explaining the findings in the report.
The study’s major goal is to comprehend the current situation in which pollution directly affects whales. The data will be vital in understanding and designing the future plan to improve the environment for the whales, says the study’s experts.
‘Whales feeding in those areas certainly might be at greater risk than off the coast here in the western US,’ said Dr Matthew Savoca, at Stanford University, told The Guardian.
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