A plastic bag (Illustration).

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Hitomi Sadasue / AP / SIPA

Since 2009, nearly 1,800 cases of turtles and marine mammals have swallowed or got tangled in plastic objects off the American coast, according to a report by the American NGO Oceana, published on Thursday.

Despite the generalization of recycling gestures, the NGO attempts to describe the cumulative impact of plastic pollution on marine fauna in the United States in the last decade.

Among the examples, a manatee in Florida swallowed so many plastic bags that it had a melon-sized lump in its stomach, another in its intestines, before dying.

Or a baby turtle who had his fragile intestines perforated by multiple plastic fragments of a few millimeters.

A figure that is probably underestimated

The objects most frequently ingested by animals are fishing lines, food packaging, plastic bags, balls and tarpaulins.

Plastic ties and balloons with string are the most common culprits of animal entanglement.

More than 900 species, including birds and fish, are affected by the problem, many of which are protected and endangered, writes Oceana in her study.

For turtles and mammals, laws require public agencies to record each observed incident in databases but this information was not compiled, until the NGO questioned them and counted the incidents.

“There are arguably many more cases that have gone unobserved,” says lead author Kimberly Warner, scientist at Oceana.

The NGO wants the report, although not exhaustive, to serve as a "catalyst" to change people's behavior.

Sources of plastic that are difficult to count

Of the turtles ingesting plastic, 20% were babies.

“Right after they break their shells, on their first trip to the ocean, they're already eating plastic that is on our beaches,” says Kimberly Warner.

When animals die, it is often through the blockage of their intestines, which prevents the animals from feeding.

Or some sort of plastic ring wraps around the animals' necks and suffocates them as they grow.

“They can't breathe anymore”.

"And sometimes, it's the weight of the items they're stuck in that prevents them from coming to the surface to breathe," adds the expert.

The sources of pollution are difficult to count: light waste which blows off the coasts and beaches, poorly closed landfills or waste exported by ship and some of which falls at sea. The solution undoubtedly lies in these three areas, and upstream by reducing our dependence on plastic.

"Companies pack everything in plastic," laments the researcher.

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