WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH PLASTIC IN OUR OCEANS? For wildlife, it can be deadly. Plastic can entangle, injure and drown animals; it can also be mistaken for food and starve animals to death by blocking their digestive systems. For us humans it’s not looking good either. At risk are our wild spaces and oxygen supply as well as our health. The chemicals that plastics leach into seawater have been linked to endocrine disruption and some cancers. With 1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption now containing plastic, it’s no longer a question of if there is plastic in our seafood, but how bad exactly that contamination is for us.