LIFE

Taking on an ocean of waste

Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 29/07/2019

» Debris, plastic bags, plastic bottles, straws. These are things that should never end up in the stomach of a sea creature. Yet this is a depressingly common occurrence, as veterinarian Weerapong Laovechprasit has discovered in his work at the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. The autopsies he has conducted have turned up rope, Styrofoam, coins and worse. The huge quantities of waste in the oceans is proving fatal to creatures both great and small: sea turtles, dolphins, even whales.