What are the hazards of plastic bags to marine life?

(1) hinders the propagation of light in seawater. A large number of microplastics floats on the surface of the ocean and in all layers of seawater, which hinders the propagation of light in seawater, affects the utilization of light by various creatures in the water and interferes with their normal life activities.

(2) Toxic additives in microplastics are continuously released into seawater, and at the same time, many hydrophobic toxic pollutants are continuously absorbed from seawater. Marine microplastics is not only the source of marine pollutants, but also the carrier of toxic pollutants.

(3) microplastics suspended in water can also adsorb some organic matter, and then be attached by some marine microorganisms and other marine organisms, so it is easily swallowed by various marine animals as bait and enters the food chain. According to related reports, all kinds of particles in the ocean, from plankton to giant blue whales, will be ingested as bait. The ratio of floating microplastics to zooplankton is 6∶ 1. In some open waters, the ratio of microplastics to zooplankton is as high as 30∶ 1, and this situation is getting more and more serious.

(4) Malnutrition of marine animals. Microplastics, eaten by animals by mistake, is difficult to be excreted, but it is easy to accumulate in the digestive tract, which affects the further feeding of animals, thus causing malnutrition and even starvation of marine animals.

(5) Poisoning all kinds of marine life and endangering human beings. If a small amount of toxic additives contained in plastics are dissolved and released into the sea, they should be negligible compared with other marine pollutants such as heavy metals, organic nitrogen and phosphorus, and oil. However, if ingested by mistake through microplastics, the toxicity of these substances will be greatly enhanced.

(6) The biochemical process of sediment interface is influenced, and then the biogeochemical cycle is influenced. The deposited microplastics hinders the diffusion and exchange of oxygen and water at the sediment interface, affects the biochemical process at the sediment interface, and then affects the biogeochemical cycle.