After our hellacious wind storm, I took a boat ride to see what our harbor and surrounding areas looked like.
Besides the damage caused by some pretty gusty winds I saw what almost brought me to tears, plastic, plastic and more plastic.
Plastic chairs, water bottles, liquor bottles, antifreeze containers, play toys, syringes, and plastic bags all floating in our canals and harbor and trapped in our mangroves and on our shorelines.
It’s not new news that plastic pollution is a global problem.
Since the 1960s, plastic production has increased by approximately 8.7% annually, evolving into a nearly $600 billion industry.
We currently produce about 370 million tons of plastic a year.
While plastic does have a place in the world, it has become very problematic to our oceans, bays, harbors, rivers, creeks, ponds and any other body of water you can imagine.
It is estimated that up to 14 million tons of plastic (or the equivalent to 5 grocery bags full of plastic per foot of coastline) enter our waters annually.
This problem is more than just an aesthetic concern. As this plastic breaks down it becomes microplastic.
Microplastics are barely visible (or visible by microscope only) pieces of broken-down plastic.
Trillions of these particles are floating around in our water and trillions more are settled at the bottom or our oceans and other waterways.
Microplastics have been identified in the surface water of every ocean, the deep sea, coastal waterways, estuaries, ponds as well as in the sands and sediment of our ocean floors, beaches, rivers and canals throughout the world.
They have even accumulated in high concentrations in an area named the Pacific Garbage Patch.
The PGP is an area of our trash floating in the water that is currently about twice the size of Texas.
Microplastics enter our waterways primarily from land-based littering but also come from stormwater drains, our roadways (from sources like tire wear), wastewater treatment plant discharges and even from our atmosphere during rain events.
Now for the scary part, microplastics are not just affecting the water and its inhabitants, they are beginning to contaminate the food we harvest from the water and our drinking water we count on to survive.
With all of the advances in technology we are now capable of tracing were many of these microplastics and even smaller particles called nanoplastics are ending up.
Alarmingly, they are showing up in samples taken from the muscle tissue and guts of fish, birds and other marine inhabitants.
To date, 386 species of marine fish of which 210 of those species we eat or use commercially, have had nanoplastics detected in their gut or muscle tissue, the part we eat.
The effects of these micro and nanoplastics on the human body are yet to be fully realized.
Some early research has linked health issues to our lung cells, liver, and even our brain cells.
Folks, I recognize this is not a “fun” Nautical Knowledge article to read, but out of sight, out of mind, turning a blind eye or saying I don’t contribute to any of this, will not fix the problem.
We created it; we need to fix it. How can you do your part to help reverse this alarming trend?
To start, get brilliant on the basics.
Micro and nanoplastics entering our waterways all share common pathways.
We can each start at home by reducing our footprint and getting educated on what we can do to help fix this issue on our own.
Additionally, we can put pressure on the organizations that pollute and the leaders that authorize the discharge of these toxins that reach our waterways.
Working together to tackle these root causes, in spite of what our state does, will have a compounding effect on our environment over time.
An easy first step we can all take is to use the three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle.
Did you know Florida failed to achieve its 2020 recycling goal of 75% mandated in 2008 by the Florida Legislature?
Why is it not mandatory to recycle in our state?
Using materials that can be washed and reused is one of the simplest and least expensive things we can all do.
Taking these simple steps will help to reduce trash items that will inevitably end up in our waterways or landfills and will ultimately leach into our groundwater and poison our planet.
Keep in mind, only about 9% of all plastic discarded since 1950 has been recycled, while another 12% has been incinerated and the remaining 79% accumulates in our landfills and waterways.
If you are good with a pen, write our elected leaders and ask them what they are doing to improve our environment.
And while you’re putting pen to paper (or pecking out an email) ask about improving wastewater management to help reduce plastic and nutrient pollution that is entering our waterways.
Throw in a few sentences about improving stormwater management by implementing stormwater and storm drain filtration and river mouth trash collection mechanisms.
These initiatives will help prevent wastes such as macroplastics (litter items), microplastics (tire dust), and chemicals on our roadways from flowing into our rivers, and eventually, the Gulf of Mexico.
Do your part, eliminate single use plastics in your home, shop with reusable bags, say NO to plastic bags at the store, properly recycle items that can have a second purpose, participate when you can to help clean up what is already in our water.
For instance, if you fish, how about bringing a non-plastic sack out with you (leave your plastic drinking water bottles at home please) and spend a few minutes fishing for plastic or other trash items?
At least if the fish aren’t biting you will be guaranteed to limit out on trash, and in turn you’ll help save our ecosystem.
Support organizations that address plastic pollution or improving our water quality, spread the word, self-talk is a very powerful tool.
In summary, can’t can’t do anything.
If we all do a little, we can and will accomplish a lot.
Captain Jack R. Sanzalone is a 30-year submarine veteran and licensed USCG Master Captain with 40 years of experience.
He is the owner of Boat Tutors and teaches basic and advanced boating education both in the classroom and on the water.
You can contact Captain Jack at: jack@boattutors.com or by visiting his website at www.boattutors.com
