Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh
The Blue Paradox is not like philosophical paradoxes that we come across in life like paradox of choices, happiness paradox and others but more in line with my article in TSE seven years back titled the Conservation Paradox (TSE, 17th Apr, 2013). Before I go ahead with my presentation, let me introduce you to the term first. It came from the findings of Grant Mc. Dermott and others of university of Oregon in a research in a marine reserve. The study was of one of the world’s largest marine reserves, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), and found that fishermen more than doubled their fishing effort once this area was earmarked for eventual protected status. The additional fishing effort resulted in an impoverished starting point for PIPA and their observation was that if such behaviour continued, there could be overfishing up to 70% in such protected area in other places also. Sometimes, such pre-emptive fishing could render the marine reserve to point of no return and hence, these scientists coined the term, I suppose. Of course, my blue paradox is in a wider context, the way we are damaging the oceans when our dependence is so absolute.
We are discharging so much of wastes in to the oceans through innumerable number of rivers or directly. The oceans are receiving so much of oils from oil spills from the oil tankers accidents and offshore drillings. There are also a number of maritime debris and waste left behind by the tourists. Overfishing and fishing of threatened species has depleted the number of fishes and disturbing the balance. The sea plants are over harvested. The health of the oceans is really worrying. The sea water is warming and becoming acidic. The warming of the sea is corroding the corals and marine plants are dying. The oceans have reached their tipping points.
Out of all the crises, the biggest crisis in the oceans is of the plastics. The plastic wastes are dumped directly in to the oceans or the wastes dumped in the inland waters are brought to seas by rivers. The quantity of plastic reaching the oceans is mind boggling, almost 8 million tonnes of plastic reaches the sea every year. Plastics of all sorts are coming in to the oceans. The carry bags, plastic packing materials, PET bottles big and small, soft and hard drinks bottles, bits and pieces, cut corners, pen caps,straws, broken toys, shoes and furniture, empty jars and drums, fishing lines, plastic fabrics, fishing lines, plastic ropes and threads, small fishing nets, large fishing nets and hell lot of plastic items, on the beaches, at sea bottoms and surfaces.Plastics are found on corals. Even in deepest of the seas like Mariana Trench, there are signs of plastic wastes. Scientists believe that plastics are literally everywhere.In Australia, they called some beaches tauntingly as “welcome to plastic beaches”, the plastics are reaching Hawaii Islands. When there were plastics in large quantities in Galapagos Island (remember it for Iguana and giant turtles and of course for Charles Darwin), the environmentalists said it “plastic in paradise”. It is much more serious than we actually think. It is now anybody’s guess what these plastic wastes are doing. And, once the plastic breaks down to macro, micro and nano particles, it will be beyond the available technology to tackle that. (Plastic pollution is seriously threatening all other water bodies also, including our Loktak)
It is fact that we depend so much on the oceans for our livelihood. The oceans are stores of vast natural resource which human beings have been exploring and harvesting since time immemorial. The oceans give us water, the elixir of life, without oceans, there would be no hydrological cycle or water cycle. The ocean gives us life in every beautiful, surprising, fascinating and spellbinding way imaginable. But as much as we depend on the oceans to survive, future generations depend on us to hand over this resource as we got it. But the way it is, it is doubtful. The plastic pollution problem has become a real global crisis and disruptive change is needed now at the moment.
It’s no longer a question of how we got here, but where we go from here. Now the mighty whales may vanish from the oceans. The ferocious sharks may no longer trouble the waters. The playful dolphins may disappear. You cannot snorkel and see the colourful corals and myriads of colourful fishes. So from here, what we do is my point now.
The Conservation international came together with S.C. Johnson Group to stage a multi room show aptly titles “Blue Paradox”on how the oceans are suffering and how it is coming to its tipping point. It was also to project the dangers caused to the marine life by the unchecked dumping of plastics in to the oceans. (SC Johnson claimed that it is a family company dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates). The Conservation International is an organisation which works to safeguard the world’s oceans in order to secure long-term ecological, social and economic benefits for people and nature. The Blue Paradox was to be a gala event to raise awareness on the oceans plastic problem and also to raise fund to be donated to Conservation International that helps them to protect 1 square kilometre of ocean (This would be in addition to what they have, they are supporting marine and land conservation over a large area already). Conservation International’s ocean protection efforts involve the creation of marine protected areas, where human activities such as tourism, development and fishing are managed to ensure sustainability.
The more the ocean gives us, the more we risk throwing it all away. The sheer volume of plastics reaching the ocean has grown to impact marine life, ecosystems and food chains all around the world. We are seeing pitiable sights of Turtles entangled in discarded ropes, Sharks and whales trapped in old fishing nets etc. Some sea animals got their guts blocked. And since plastics can take hundreds of years to decompose, the issue is not going away on its own anytime soon. But the first step to solving a problem of this immense scale is to understand it.
It was quite unfortunate that due to Covid 19 pandemic, the programme could not be staged in London. I am sure that both Conservation International and S.C. Johnson Group must be keeping everything ready for staging the same once the pandemic crisis is over. Building upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and field demonstration, Conservation International empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the well-being of humanity, I am sure that they will keep it up.
Solving the ocean plastic crisis is riddled with complexities and will require the collective efforts of everyone – governments, companies and individuals – to make a difference. The attempts like the “Ocean Cleanup”, “Mr Trash Wheel” and “Seabin Project” are too costly and too little considering the magnitude of the problem, some taunts it to be too quixotic to make a difference and cleaning alone is not enough. We all must act before it’s too late, the first and most effective step has to come from the individuals, just don’t allow the plastics to reach the oceans (or waterbodies). There are many ways of containing the plastics we already know and more need to be found out. The successful staging of the show is sure to be an eye opener for the whole world and lead the path. I wish the organisers a grand success in this venture of theirs.When they stage it after the current pandemic crisis, I won’t be here in London. Certainly, I am sad that I am going to miss it.
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