Plastic waste in ocean waters can pose numerous dangers to marine life, among them, entanglement, poisoning and starvation through ingestion. “Ingestion of plastics leading to nutritional deficiencies or starvation — for example, stomach blockages — is part of the problem,” Barnes said. “This can be made worse as plastic waste at sea can absorb persistent organic pollutants — poisons — and concentrate them. Macroplastics can entangle, choke or drown animals, such as turtles, whales and sharks.”

Andy Schofield, a biologist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and one of the researchers on the project, agreed. “These islands and the ocean around them are sentinels of our planet’s health,” he said. “It is heart-breaking watching Albatrosses trying to eat plastic thousands of miles from anywhere. This is a very big wake up call. Inaction threatens not just endangered birds and whale sharks, but the ecosystems many islanders rely on for food supply and health.”

The study was conducted during four cruises on the BAS research ship RRS James Clark Ross between 2013 and 2018. A team of scientists from ten organizations sampled the water and seabed, surveyed beaches and examined more than 2,000 animals across 26 different species. The work is part of a larger program whose goal is to help small Atlantic island nations protect their coasts.

The amount of plastic that has reached these regions increased at all levels, from the shore to the seafloor, according to the scientists. More than 90 percent of beached debris was plastic, and the volume of this debris is the highest recorded in the last decade, they said.

They found the largest concentration of plastic on the beaches. “In 2018 we recorded up to 300 items per meter of shoreline on East Falkland and St Helena. This is ten times higher than recorded a decade ago,” Barnes said. “Understanding the scale of the problem is the first step towards helping business, industry and society tackle this global environmental issue.”

Furthermore, their “remoteness” from the sources of plastic provides “a ‘state of the oceans’ snapshot,” he said, explaining that influx of plastic waste is a global problem that will require a concerted diverse effort to solve.