According to Brad Robertson, prevailing currents carry plastic debris into coves and small bays like Cala Figuera, which acts as a catchment point. Much of the plastic comes from local sources like streets, beaches and sewage treatment plants that lack filters fine enough to catch small bits of plastic like cotton swab sticks. Other sources of plastic are farther away, like the northern coast of Africa. In the water, plastic pollution looks to many sea creatures like a source of food. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish—their prey—and fill their stomachs with them, sometimes to the point of starvation. Fish, invertebrates and seabirds mistake microplastics for fish eggs and suffer similar consequences. Plastic bioaccumulates in the body tissues of predatory fish like the Mediterranean’s endangered bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), and consequently in the humans who eat them.
Despite its harmful impacts, plastic pollution may offer a cause for hope. With its colorful snarls of recognizable objects from our daily lives, plastic pollution is a visibly compelling threat that can inspire public action where more abstract issues like overfishing and climate change often fall short. It can even serve as a “gateway cause” to engage the public and policymakers in broader ocean conservation measures. Bringing the issue of plastic pollution to the surface through art and other creative forms of communication can make people relate and inspire them to do their part to limit their impacts.
Strongly protected marine protected areas (MPAs), which regulate human impacts in designated zones, are known to help alleviate the effects of threats like climate change and overfishing and may help safeguard Hope Spots such as the Balearic Islands for the future. As plastic pollution is such a strong potential gateway to spark interest in marine conservation, management plans for MPAs in the Mediterranean (and beyond) should include it as a threat to address. Just as MPAs regulate fishing and oil drilling, they can help control the release of plastic into the environment. The Balearic Islands would greatly benefit from stronger enforcement and expansion of its MPAs in addition to the inclusion of plastic pollution as a priority issue.
Empowering people—especially kids—to refuse single-use and disposable plastic can influence not only their friends and family but also the buying habits of restaurants. Cohen says, “I think that little kids, especially when they’re right at that age around two or three where they like to say ‘no’ to everything, it’s really cool to teach them that it’s okay to say ‘no plastic straw.”