Deadly ocean plastic to threaten 99% of seabirds by 2050

Australian researchers have predicted that 99 percent of the world's marine birds will have deadly waste plastic in their guts by 2050.

Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have said that if current trends continue, nearly all seabirds could be at greater risk of death because of poor human waste disposal.

Dr. Chris Wilcox said the research was "striking," with up to 90 percent of birds today having some form of waste plastic in their digestive tracts, compared with just 5 percent in 1960.

He said if the worrying trend continues, 99 percent marine birds could have significantly shorter life spans.

"For the first time, we have a global prediction of how wide- reaching plastic impacts may be on marine species -- and the results are striking," Wilcox said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We predict, using historical observations, that 90 percent of individual seabirds have eaten plastic. This is a huge amount and really points to the ubiquity of plastic pollution."

Meanwhile Dr. Denise Hardesty, also from the CSIRO, said marine birds were "excellent indicators of ecosystem health," and the results of their study did not bode well.

"Finding such widespread estimates of plastic in seabirds is borne out by some of the fieldwork we've carried out where I've found nearly 200 pieces of plastic in a single seabird," Hardesty said.

Seabirds often confuse bags, bottle caps, and plastic fibers that have washed into the ocean as food.

They swallow them either by accident or mistake them for food -- something which causes weight loss, gut impaction and, in some cases, death.

The researchers said simple methods of reducing unnecessary plastic waste, such as "reducing packaging, banning single-use plastic items or charging an extra fee to use them, and introducing deposits for recyclable items like drink containers" would reduce the effects on not only seabirds, but other marine life as well.

The CSIRO conducted the research in association with the Imperial College London