Oceans Day campaign raises awareness of large amount of plastic in world's oceans

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is asking people to be more aware of the amount of plastic they use and throw away.

It'spart of its Oceans Day campaign to raise awareness ofwhat plastics can mean to marine life, including leatherback turtles, says MireilleChiasson, DFO's manager for the Oceans Division for the Gulf Region.

"It's an international day to make people think a little bit and think about our oceans and how important they arein our lives," she said.

"The theme for the day is plastic so the issue surrounding plastic and environment, and in particular, in our oceans right now."

Ocean currents

Chiassonsaid plastics travel with the ocean currents and endup in different areas. She adds there are areas on the planet where there are dumps of plastic in the oceans.

"They kind of concentrate in areas where the water is so thick with plastic that it would be difficult to swim through."

As the problem grows,Chiassonsaid more species are being affected as they eat the plastic, mistaking it for food. She adds this plastic is now being found in some fish that people are consuming.

It is estimated over eight million tons of plastic end up in the oceans each year.

"Usually the culprits that we see the most often are plastic bags," she said, adding plastic bottles are a big problem as well.

Tweet a picture

Chiasson said to raise awareness, DFO is asking people to usere-usable bagsinstead of plastic and tweet a phototo DFO.

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Many events are held on Oceans Day to raise awareness.

"We encourage people to do beach cleanups," she said.

AWorld Oceans Daystory timeis being held at the Confederation Centre library Thursday at 11:00 a.m.

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