NIMASA seeking partnership to remove marine litter

The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside on Thursday, urged stakeholders in the maritime industry to collaborate with the agency in reducing the threat of marine litter to  food security and the ecosystem to boost economy. The Nation Newspapers reports.

Addressing over 1,000 participants at the launch of the Maritime Action Plan on Marine Litter and Plastic Management in Lagos, he said the collaboration becomes imperative because the  challenges  of  marine  litter  and  plastic pollution  are  multiple, and include  threat  to  food security, threat  to  economic  activities,  navigational  hazard,  water safety,  threat  to  ecosystem, harmful effects on marine life and bio-diversity among others.

Marine litter can be described as any man-made object discarded, disposed of, or abandoned that enters the coastal or marine environment. It can be very dangerous, and has the capacity to threaten oceans and coasts, endangers marine animals and seabirds, affects navigation of vessels and also has health and safety implications on lives. The NIMASA chief said it was a known fact that the nation’s oceans and seas sustain lives but when the threats to ocean health are numerous, it also affects human beings.

He said: “A report by the World Economic Forum projects that by the year 2050, plastics in the oceans will outweigh fish if mitigated.

“It is well known that of 260 million tons of plastic produced in the world each year, about 10per cent ends up in the ocean and 70 per cent of the mass eventually sinks, damaging life on the seabed.”