Richard Pain plans to swim across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the US in a giant plastic bottle, ploughing through a floating garbage dump to highlight marine pollution
An Australian filmmaker plans to swim across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the United States in a giant plastic bottle, ploughing through a huge floating garbage dump to highlight marine pollution.

The odd whale, dolphin or shark swimming near Bombay High may not drop dead as it passes by the garbage dump that is Mumbai's coastline, but it is no indicator of the health of the local marine ecosystem. Less hardy species like molluscs and small fish are bearing the brunt of a city that takes its waters for a trashcan. And experts warn there may not be any fish in Mumbai's seas in 50 years.

Fifteen commercially important verities of fish have so far disappeared over a decade from the Sitakunda sea belt in Chittagong because of massive seawater contamination by unsafe ship-breaking, according to a study.

Environment watchdog Greenpeace on Thursday warned that the costs of the Paradip oil spill caused by the drowning of the Mongolian ship MV Black Rose on September 9, in terms of damage to ecology, could be far more than what a clean-up would involve. "As we move forward, the focus should not be solely on the response to the oil spill, but more importantly on preventing such accidents.