| Porthole 02 Jul 21

THERE is now so much plastic pollution in the ocean the debris has become a rafting route for invasive species, threatening native animals with extinction.

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History in Tel Aviv has found “mass rafting” events, such as that brought on by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, carried almost 300 of the country’s marine species to distant shores.

While it is rare for these non-native species to successfully survive in a new environment, these aquatic organisms attaching themselves where they are not wanted has become known as “biofouling”, and can result in the same effects as any other invasive species: the threatening of biological diversity, food security and human wellbeing.

Maybe think about that next time you stick a message in a bottle and innocently let it drift out to sea!