The Dangerous Drifters on the Sea

Why do you deliver the speech?

The reason why I deliver my speech is that I was really shocked by the actual condition of the sea around Japan. When I went to Okinawa for a trip, there was a lot of garbage covering the whole beach. This scene made me feel sad and guilty, because these garbage come from our daily life, such as plastic bags or battles. Also, these garbage have bad effects to not only the environment but also our lives which we cannot ignore. So, this problem is very close to us. Therefore, in order to solve this problem I would like to address my speech.

When I was a junior high school student, I went to Okinawa. I was looking forward to seeing blue and beautiful sea. However, it was just a dream. During my dive into the sea, I often saw a lot of garbage and a dead bird that had been entangled in a rope. At that moment, I was surprised at the hazardous condition of the sea which was regarded as a beautiful thing on the surface. And also, I was really shocked because our garbage killed an animal. Twelve years have passed, such a situation still continues now.

Today I’m here to talk about sea garbage which is sinking and drifting on the sea and being washed ashore. As one of Japanese people, I would like to completely eliminate the sea garbage from Japan, because Japan, one of the marine nations, is highly likely to be affected by the sea environment and our eating habits deeply depend on marine resources. I hope this speech will become the key to make better sea environment.

These days, there is a lot of sea garbage around Japan. In 2013, it totaled 700,000 tons; 60% of them were things from our life like plastic bottles and 30% were ones from fish industry, such as ropes and nets. Surprisingly, the amount of it tripled that in 2000. They are washed ashore and cover a whole beach.

Unfortunately, sea garbage gives three bad effects on Japan. First, animals eat garbage like plastic bags or bottles, and tend to get entangled in ropes and nets. Finally, they lose their lives because of these dangerous drifters. Actually when a Japanese NGO investigated a turtle’s body, there was a lot of garbage in its stomach.

Second, sea garbage shows it fags and threatens us. In Kanagawa prefecture, one boy drowned in the sea because his leg got entangled in sea garbage. Also, in Aomori prefecture, a boat was overturned because it was entangled in a rope which was thrown away. As a result, six people died and were missing. Sad to say, such cases are not special examples and often take place.

Third, Japan has a big financial burden because of these drifters. In the concrete, the cost to collect them is tremendous. For example, the research conducted in Nagasaki prefecture showed it cost about 450 million yen to collect these drifters. Also, in other prefectures, the local governments have crucial financial burden by them. So these drifters have substantial negative impacts for Japan.

Why is the sea garbage generated? There are two causes. First one is littering domestic waste, such as plastic bottles or packages. Many people don’t throw the garbage in the right place like trash boxes. Under this situation, the left garbage is conveyed to the river by rain and wind. Flowing on the river, garbage gets to the sea. According to the survey conducted in Japan, about 80% of the garbage littered by people convey to the river and the amount of it increases during the rainy or windy day. Second, fishermen also dump garbage illegally. If the garbage is produced and left on the ship, it becomes obstacle while working, and the cost of disposing it becomes their burden in finance. So the cause is in us. Please recognize this situation where we are polluting the sea, killing marine lives and suffering ourselves. Japan should make efforts to remove this misery!

You may say we should do cleanup activities more and more to deal with the garbage. Certainly, it is good way to eliminate the garbage which is already trashed, but it is not enough to solve this problem completely. Even if we continue cleaning, sea garbage will be produced constantly. So we have to seek more productive ways.

So what should we do in order to eliminate the sea garbage from Japan? To decrease them, I have two suggestions. First, the Japanese government should introduce a “deposit system”. This is the method to stop littering and collect garbage efficiently. When consumers buy drink or package products, shops take a fixed deposit on the price of these products. Then, after using the contents, consumers return them to a designated place. By doing so, they can retrieve their deposit. Consumers come to think they must not litter, because they make a loss in finance if they don’t recover deposit. According to the survey in Virginia, the amount of recovered containers increased and the amount of littering decreased by introducing deposit system. In Germany, the government made this system compulsory. Surprisingly, they succeed collecting as high as 90% of garbage. Therefore, it is necessary for Japan introducing this system.

Secondly, the Japanese government should introduce the buyback system of sea garbage, which government buys garbage from fishermen and disposes it. If garbage is generated on the ship, fishermen take it to the organization which is run by government. And then, the officers of the organization buy garbage and pay money according to the amount of it. Thanks to this, we can decrease marine disposal of fishermen, and recover the natural sea environment. Now the system is used in Korea. After that, about 40% of sea garbage has decreased. Moreover, Korea succeeds cutting the cost of recovering trash. Therefore, this suggestion is so effective to solve this problem.

The sea has supported our lives in many ways. The sea has given us a lot of blessings. However, it is now in crisis. It is caused by our foolish actions. Please imagine that the trash which become dangerous drifters hurt marine creatures and us, Japanese people. Perhaps, you could be an indirect killer unconsciously. So isn’t it our turn to protect the sea?