Marine+Debris+OpEd

** ﻿ Hypodermics on the Shore… Can we take it anymore? **
By Mallory Watson and Sasha Belinkie

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Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” might have touched on the relevant points of the 1980s (????I DON'T KNOW THE SONG, AND THE REFERENCE ISN'T CLEAR TO ME), but marine debris is a concern to Miami. Beer bottles and plastic bags strewn on the beach are part of the problem, but it sprawls beyond the shoreline. Reefs trap the litter, which floats beneath and atop the water. It's not just an aesthetic problem, either. For some creatures, this stuff is deadly. That newspaper you were reading on the beach that blew away? The lost fishing line? The flipper that fell off in water too deep to retrieve? The marshmallows left behind for the 'gators? They're the raw material of marine debris. Any object created by humans and left in the marine environment (even the Everglades WHY 'EVEN' THE EVERGLADES?) are part of the problem. So we're all responsible for it -- or at least have a stake in the problem. (THERE ARE NO DOUBT A FEW FINICKY SOULS WHO AREN'T IN THE LEAST RESPONSIBLE FOR IT, RIGHT? UNLESS WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS THAT EVEN IF WE DIDN'TALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM, WE'RE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR FIXING IT -- ?) Garbage islands in the Pacific are an eyesore, yes. But there's worse news, too. The trash breaks into small particles, which can look like brightly colored food to hungry fish and seabirds. Plastic bags resemble jellies ??????LIKE GRAPE OR STRAWBERRY? I SUSPECT THIS IS JARGON, the main food source of sea turtles. Swallowing plastics can fool a creature into feeling full even as it's starving. Or choke it. All kinds of animals, some of which we feast on, eat plastic and other harmful materials. As plastic material degrades in the water, it can release heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury. Objects like medical waste also pose a risk of disease transmission or blood borne pathogens.

As a community reliant on tourism, marine debris can knock out our major income source. Over just two summers from 1987-88, the New Jersey Shore saw a loss of $2 billion in tourism revenue due to an increase in marine debris (syringes, plastic bags and basic litter). What does Southeast Florida stand to lose in that type of event? (GOOD POINT)

The problem of marine debris is, in terms of Billy Joel's song, not a fire we started. It doesn't matter. If one generation fails to take responsibility for problems -- even if it didn't create them -- it simply pawns them off to future generations, when they may be even more insoluble.