Marine Pollution

Pollution: Sri Lanka To Sue Singapore Ship Owners

Sri Lankan authorities Sunday said they will sue the owners of a Singapore-registered cargo carrier which has burned for 11 straight days off the island's west coast and caused some of its worst-ever marine pollution.Police said a criminal investigation was also launched into the blaze aboard the MV X-Press Pearl, which was carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid and a huge amount of plastic raw materials.The intense fire, still burning at the rear of the 186 metre (610 feet) vessel, has destr

31 May 2021

Plastic Waste Kills

In Southeast Asia, a number of endangered marine animals killed with large amounts of plastic in their stomachs have been reported by the media. In June last year, a Pilot whale was found beached in Songkhla, Southern Thailand, choked to death by 80 pieces of plastic rubbish weighing eight kilograms in its stomach. In the same month, a Green turtle was found dead in Chanthaburi, Thailand, with plastic shreds from fishing gear, rubber bands and other marine debris in its stomach.

3 December 2019

Death by plastic waste

Humanity’s enduring love affair with plastic, a love more pronounced in the Southeast Asian region, has claimed another victim. This time, the victim is so rare that it was once thought to have been extinct 65 million years ago and is known by the moniker “living fossil”. This week, pictures have surfaced of a dead Coelacanth taken by a fisherman in Indonesia in 2016 but only recently shared. Potential cause of death: Lay’s Potato Chips plastic food wrappers around its intestines.

12 August 2018