Swimming in Garbage

Dead turtle entangled in a net

By Gigi Veve

Islas Secas, Panama and those islands surrounding along with the main 
land are an incredibly majestic and special place in the world. The 
only thing that takes away from its astounding beauty is the immensity 
of garbage seen everywhere. Over the past few weeks we have seen an 
assortment of items such as plastics, metals, fabrics, shoes, you name 
it and most likely we saw it floating in the ocean. Studies have shown 
that the majority of these items are not getting dumped from boats, 
but are drifting from land, which is frustrating but means that we 
have the power to make the difference. We have witnessed a floating 
fishing net with an entangled sea turtle that unfortunately was dead, 
plastic bottles surrounding the whales and dolphins we are conducting 
surveys on, large plastic sacks wrapped around dolphins flukes, and 
this is a small region in comparison to what is going on in the rest 
our worlds oceans. Latin America and the Caribbean alone produce 160 
million tons of unwanted trash per year, with per capita values 
ranging from 0.1 to 14kg/capita/day. The highest per capita solid 
waste generation rates are found in the islands of the Caribbean, 
which includes the Caribbean coast of Panama (1). We need to take 
these matters into our own hands and take responsibility for our 
species impacts on the world. It is out of control right now and we 
need to do something about it rather than turn our shoulders from it. 
We can’t keep having the mentality that it will not have an affect on 
us, so pick up a piece of garbage because every piece counts. Lets 
maintain an optimistic attitude and make a difference together, 
because whether we like to believe it or not this is impacting us.

1. "Waste Generation." URBAN DEVELOPMENT SERIES – KNOWLEDGE PAPERS 
Waste Generation (n.d.): 9. Web.

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Bottlenose dolphin dragging a plastic sack

Bottlenose dolphin surfacing near a plastic bottle