The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is looking into the issue of marine pollution and will launch a programme to study marine litter, MoES Secretary M. Rajeevan has said.
Addressing the gathering at the inauguration of the International Conference on Benthos at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) on Wednesday, he said oceans play a key part in our lives but we still know far less about it than we do about the solar system.
“However, our marine environment is under threat from climate change, over-fishing and pollution,” he said.
Quoting statistics, he said that virtually no part of the ocean is untouched by plastic. Of the over 300 million tonnes of plastic produced every year, 8.8 million tonnes end up in oceans. This makes up 80% of marine debris, he said.
According to estimates by the United Nations, 15% of this floats on the water surface, and another 15% is retained in the water column. The rest of the debris — 70% — sinks onto the ocean bed, said Dr. Rajeevan. So the Ministry hopes to launch a programme to study marine litter and collaborate with countries, including the United Kingdom and South Africa, to do more research on this matter, he added.
The Centre will also establish an international training centre for marine taxonomy at the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology in Kochi, he said.
