A sea turtle captured by a ghost fishing net made of plastic. Ghost fishing takes place when fishing gear is abandoned or lost but continues to trap sea life and damage coral. Fishing gear represents 10 per cent of all marine debris left in the oceans (Morris 2017).
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Human pressures on ocean health have increased during the last decade because of the growing world population and expanded use of the oceans (UNEP 2019a). Marine debris (including plastics) is one of the greatest threats to oceans, wildlife and human health. Today sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, seabirds are caught in the plastic rings that are part of the packaging of bottles and cans, and fish become trapped in plastic gloves and other items in the open ocean (Butterworth, Clegg, and Bass 2012; Morris 2017). Microplastics are tiny plastic particles found in lakes, rivers and oceans. They may be primary microplastics – that is, they have been directly manufactured in the form of microscopic particles for use in products and in other applications – or secondary microplastics produced by the breakdown of larger plastic objects (Boucher and Friot 2017; Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection [GESAMP] 2017, pp. 18-19; UNEP
