04 April 2009

Sea lions and marine debris


The Alaska Department of Fish and Game with Sea Gypsy Research produced an educational video called ‘Entanglement of Steller sea lions in marine debris: identifying causes and finding solutions’.

The video describes how Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) become entangled and - most of the time - dye for this reason, which are the most common sources of entangling debris, and what one could do to help reduce the number of entanglements.

These animals are threatened because of us and unfortunately this problem is not only related to sea lions but affects any marine animals such as cetaceans, elasmobranchs, pinnipeds, sea-turtles, marine birds, and big fishes.

As the video says: “... Since many of us live near some types of waterway, enjoy eating seafood and use plastic materials, we all contribute to the problem... Let’s be part of the solution!”

SB

The video (11 min. long)

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For more information:
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/
http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/marine_deb.html

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