这照片让人震惊！加勒比海被塑料垃圾“活埋”

A photographer has captured the damage being done to the planet's oceans with a shocking “sea of plastic and styrofoam” image taken near a tranquil Caribbean island.

一名摄影师在宁静的加勒比海岛附近拍下了“被塑料和泡沫聚苯乙烯覆盖的海洋”照片，这一令人震惊的照片揭露了地球上的海洋所遭受的破坏。

Caroline Power, the photographer, said witnessing the plastic blanket of forks, bottles and rubbish between the islands Roatan and Cayos Cochinos, off the coast of Honduras, was “devastating”.

摄影师卡洛琳•鲍尔表示，目睹成片的叉子、瓶罐等塑料垃圾漂浮在洪都拉斯海岸附近的罗阿坦岛和科奇诺斯群岛之间，让人“崩溃”。

“To see something that I care so deeply for being killed, slowly choked to death by human waste was devastating,” she told The Telegraph.

她告诉《每日电讯报》说：“看见我如此深爱的海洋被毁灭，在人类垃圾的掩埋下渐渐窒息，真的很崩溃。”

“Once the trash is in the ocean, it is incredibly difficult and costly to remove. The key is to stop the trash before it enters the ocean.

“一旦垃圾到了海洋中，要移除它们就变得很困难也很费钱。解决问题的关键就是阻止垃圾进入海洋。”

The worst of the rubbish the dive team found was about 15 miles off the coast of Roatan heading towards the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve.

潜水队发现的垃圾最多的地方在科奇诺斯群岛海洋保护区方向，距离罗阿坦岛海滩15英里处。

“We were on a dive trip to a set of islands that don't quite break the ocean surface. They are one of the most pristine dive sites in this part of the Caribbean,” Ms Power recalled.

鲍尔女士回忆说：“当时我们正要到海底相连的几个岛屿去潜水。那块区域是加勒比海这一带最原生态的潜水区。”

“The photo of the diver in the water was actually over one of these seamounts. To see an area that is supposed to be pristine covered in garbage and trash was disheartening.”

“潜水员在水下的这张照片实际上是在其中一座海底山上拍的。看到原本应该十分纯洁的海水表面铺满了垃圾，真让人沮丧。”

She said they passed through floating garbage for “nearly five miles”, adding: “Everywhere we looked, plastic bags of all shapes and sizes: chip bags, ziplocks, grocery, trash, snack bags, other packaging. Some were whole and the rest were just pieces. Sadly, many turtles, fish, whales, and seabirds will mistake those bits of plastic for food.

她说，他们的船大概开了“五英里”（八千米）才游过了这片漂浮的垃圾，还补充说：“目及之处，全都是各种形状和大小的塑料袋：薯片包装袋、自封袋、食品袋、垃圾袋、零食袋，还有其他各种包装袋。有些塑料袋是完整的，其余的只是碎片。可悲的是，很多海龟、鱼、鲸和海鸟会把这些塑料碎片误当做食物。”

“We then reached an area about two miles wide that had multiple trash lines that stretched from horizon to horizon.

“后来我们到了一个地方，大概有两英里宽，那里一排排的垃圾一望无际。”

“There was also a seemingly infinite number of plastic forks, spoons, drink bottles, and plates. There were broken soccer balls, toothbrushes, a tv, and so many shoes and flip flops.”

“还有看上去无穷无尽的塑料叉子、勺子、饮料瓶和盘子。破足球、牙刷、一个电视机，还有许许多多的鞋子和拖鞋。”

Blue Planet Society, an organisation campaigning to end overfishing and the overexploitation of the world’s ocean, believes the rubbish originated from the Motagua River in Guatemala, washing into the sea during heavy rains.

致力于终结海洋过度捕捞和过度开发的组织蓝色星球协会认为，这些垃圾来自危地马拉的莫塔瓜河，是被暴雨冲进海洋的。

They said the images were “unbelievable”, adding: “We see a lot of shocking images of environmental destruction. This is right up there with the worst.

他们表示，这些照片“让人难以置信”，还说：“我们看过很多令人震惊的关于环境破坏的照片。眼前的这个是最糟的。”

“Trash from Motagua River in Guatemala polluting Honduras coast has been an issue in region for some time.”

“危地马拉莫塔瓜河的垃圾污染洪都拉斯海岸的问题已经困扰该地区有一段时间了。”

Ms Power adds, “There is a lack of infrastructure and education, so many people either burn trash or throw it into rivers”.

鲍尔女士说：“这一地区缺乏基础设施建设和教育，很多人都是把垃圾烧掉或者扔进河里。”

Conservationists Oceana Europe said the photos had left them “shocked, sad and angry, but not surprised”.

欧洲海洋保护组织说，这些照片让他们“震动、悲伤和生气，但并不惊讶。”

They added: “If we don’t change our behaviour now, we’re going to have more plastic than fish in the ocean.”

他们补充说：“如果我们不从现在开始改变我们的行为，海洋里的塑料将会比鱼还多。”

Ms Power says she hopes her photos will encourage others to “make changes to their habits and daily lives to help protect and conserve this planet”.

鲍尔女士说，她希望她的照片能鼓励他人“改变习惯和日常生活，帮助保护这个星球。”

不看不知道，一看吓一跳！海洋中的塑料知多少：

300 million - tons of plastic produced globally each year

3亿：每年全球产生的塑料吨数

12 percent - amount of plastic which is recycled

12%：被循环利用的塑料占比

Five trillion - number of pieces of microplastic in ocean, with one rubbish truck load added each minute

5万亿：海洋中塑料微粒片数，以每分钟一卡车的数量增长

11,000 - number of pieces of microplastic ingested by humans each year from seafood

1.1万：每年人类通过吃海鲜摄入的塑料微粒片数

780,000 - number of microplastics humans will ingest by the end of the century if trends continue

78万：如果趋势不变，到本世纪末人类将摄入的塑料微粒片数

6 billion - estimated number of bags removed from circulation annually at last count

60亿：根据最新统计，每年退出流通的塑料袋数量

12 minutes - useful lifespan of average plastic bag

12分钟：塑料袋的平均使用寿命