"ONE LOCAL marine scientist is bemoaning the proliferation of marine litter – much of it plastics – while also raising a red flag concerning the potential negative implications for not only marine life, but also human life and livelihoods in the context of a changing climate.

“Plastics in the environment have been studied for decades and over the years, scientists have become increasingly alarmed at the quantities of plastic waste in the sea. Some 2.5 billion metric tons of solid waste is produced all around the world and within that, 275 million metric tons is plastic waste,” said Dr Mona Webber, professor of marine biology and director of the Centre for Marine Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory."