if you are one of those vizagites whos proud of our long coastline and unspoilt pristine beaches then this picture will surely make you squirm thats our beloved rushikonda beach at low tide the same beach where we love to go kayaking scuba diving surfing and snorkelling and basically just living the muchenvied beachlife when the sea rolls back though it exposes the collective shame of our modern society plastic pollution in fact clear sea days that used to be cherished by the vizagites have ironically became an eye opener for many now recently i happened to go kayaking on a day when the sea was crystal clear at rushikonda beach the beauty and serenity of the sea was really memerising but i noticed pieces of plastic floating all over the sea i also saw pieces of plastic stuck to the rocks near the beach i was shocked to see the pollution on the beach i had always thought of vizags beaches as one of the less polluted ones but thats going to change if we arent careful shares jairam naveen a citybased photographer we see more plastic than marine life in the sea now divers experts lament that lawsons bay beach and the rk beach are so polluted and people are even scared of surfing at the former i frequently go snorkelling at rushikonda but of late one doesnt even have to take a plunge to deep waters to see the menace of plastic pollution says abigail irwin a marine biology student at low tide pieces of plastic cling to the rocks and they finally end up being eaten up by fish and animals that find them visually appealing when an animal ingests plastic it doesnt get digested and ends up adversely affecting its bodily functions or it breaks down and ends up releasing toxins into the body we humans will be the final victims of the menace since it reaches us through the food chain when plastic clogs up fishing nets it ends up catching marine life that should not have been caught up in nets in the first place she elaborates throwing light on the farreaching consequences of plastic pollution gujjari anil kumar a scuba divemaster from the city says i recently found a dead dolphin at mangamaripeta beach it was heartbreaking to see such a beautiful creature lying lifeless i have seen carcasses of olive ridley turtles at the rushikonda beach in the past these deaths happen due to the presence of microplastics in the sea in fact i have seen more trash than marine life at mangamaripeta frequently microplastic is killing our marine life but what is it explaining how plastic turns into micro plastic thats detrimental to all life in our oceans anil says a majority of the plastic waste ends up in the sea the sea tries its best to throw out the garbage but subsequently it breaks down into brittle pieces the movement of the sea turns the plastic into micro