Species
Introductions
Ships
have always served as a means by which organisms can hitchhike
to new waters. Such transport was limited mainly to animals
that attached themselves to or burrowed into the hulls of ocean-going
vessels. About 3,000 species are transported in ships around
the world each day.
Although there are no documented marine extinctions caused by
exotic species, introduced species have played a major role
in threatening or leading to the extinction of numerous inland
species. It is leading to a process some call 'McDonaldisation'
where you find the same species (e.g. sparrows) wherever you
go. |
Summary
It
is estimated:
- Every
day around 5 million items of waste are thrown overboard
from ships.
- Every
year three times more rubbish is dumped into our oceans
than the weight of fish caught.
- Annually,
1 million seabirds and 100, turtles suffer cruel deaths
from entanglement in, or ingestion of, plastics.
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