Is it true that 100,000 marine mammals and/or sea turtles die each year due to marine debris/plastics?
This statement is possible, but difficult to say with certainty. To date there are no published studies specifically researching how many marine mammals die each year directly due to marine debris. Regardless of the exact number that die each year due to marine debris, each death is one too many. Marine debris doesn’t belong in our oceans and waterways. Below is the closest figure that we could find. These statements were made in a paper presented at the 1984 Workshop on the Fate and Impact of Marine Debris by Wallace (1985). The manuscript does not state that marine mammals are dying from plastic pieces, but rather that mortality is caused by entanglement from lost fishing gear and other unknown causes. “Debris entanglement is estimated to cause 50,000 to 90,000 deaths per year in the northern fur seal. The population in 1983 was dropping on the main rookery in Alaska at about 8% per year. At least 50,000 deaths are thought to be due to entanglement; the other 40,000 deaths possible e
