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Short Communication: Marine litter ingestion by a Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) in Mindanao, Philippines, and the need for consistent long-term recording of single-individual strandings
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Researchers documented a case of plastic ingestion in a stranded Bryde's whale in the Philippines and argue that even single-individual stranding events yield valuable data on marine litter impacts. The authors call for systematic long-term collection of stranding records in developing countries to fill critical knowledge gaps.
Strandings provide opportunities to collect data on interactions between megafauna and marine litter which help address the limited information available on the impacts of litter in developing countries, such as the Philippines. However, the perception that single‐individual strandings yield minimal data restricts the scope of publication, resulting in the limited dissemination of potentially valuable information. Here we present a case of plastic ingestion by a Bryde’s whale in the Philippines and discuss the importance of consistent long‐term collection of strandings data and the value of publishing these results.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.