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17259
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Plastic-polluted whales: an update on ingestion of marine debris by cetaceans.
Laetitia Nunny and Mark Peter Simmonds
International Whaling Commission
2020
SC/68B/E/03
Relevant researchers were approached, and a literature review conducted in order to compile new reports of ingestion of debris by cetaceans. Seventy-four new cases are reported and, of these, some fifteen individuals had pathology associated with marine debris ingestion and, in some cases, this was reported as the cause of death. As previously noted in the literature, deep diving cetaceans seem to be particularly vulnerable to marine debris ingestion. More research is needed to fully evaluate the conservation threat posed by marine debris to cetaceans.
