The 63rd Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will be held in Jersey, United Kingdom, beginning on July 11. Apart from the ongoing fight to stop commercial whaling a scientific assessment about ocean garbage was presented at a key international whaling forum this week.
Millions of tonnes of plastic debris dumped each year in the world's oceans could pose a lethal threat to whales. A review of research literature from the last two decades reveals hundreds of cases in which cetaceans -- an order including 80-odd species of whales, dolphins and porpoises - have been sickened or killed by marine litter.
Entanglement in plastic bags and fishing gear have long been identified as a threat to sea birds, turtles and smaller cetaceans. For large ocean-dwelling mammals, however, ingestion of such refuse is also emerging as a serious cause of disability and death, experts say. Read the full article on France24.com
