“This area is said to still be a largely untouched desert,” explained Dr. Melanie Bergmann, an expert at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, who discussed the topic with colleagues from Norway, Canada and the Netherlands.
That perception no longer reflects reality, he said, adding that the review shows that the northernmost ecosystems are particularly affected by climate change, which is being exacerbated by plastic pollution.
Despite being sparsely populated in almost every habitat, from beaches and the water column to the seafloor, the Arctic has similar levels of plastic flooding to the most densely populated regions of the world, the text says.
Pollution comes from both local and distant sources, the authors pointed out, to which ocean currents of the Atlantic and North Seas and the North Pacific across the Bering Strait are major contributors.
Some of the most important are municipal waste and sewage from Arctic communities, and debris from ships, especially fishing boats, whose nets and ropes pose a serious problem, they noted.
Whether thrown into the sea on purpose or accidentally lost, they make up a large part of the plastic waste in the European sector of the Arctic, the scientists said.
“Unfortunately, there are very few studies on the effects of the material on Arctic marine organisms,” emphasized Bergmann.
But there is evidence that the consequences there are similar to those in more analyzed areas: In the Arctic too, many animals – polar bears, seals, reindeer and seabirds – become entangled in plastic and die, he described.
Accidentally ingested microplastics are likely to cause reduced growth and reproduction, physiological stress and inflammation in marine animal tissues and even pass through the blood of humans, she said.
Among other things, the literature warns that plastics are currently responsible for 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions over their entire life cycle.
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