'By 2050, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish'

"By 2050, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish. And the poison that we throw into the water comes back to us, to our tables, in the food we eat," EU Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini warned Thursday.

Mogherini made the remarks at Our Ocean Conference 2017 being held in Malta. The two-day conference aims to inspire joint solutions and to gather ambitious commitments to conserve and sustainably use the oceans. Plastic pollution has been a hot topic at the meeting.

According to Britain's Prince Charles, who gave a keynote speech at the conference, eight million tons of plastic waste has been entering the oceans annually.

"Plastic is indeed now on the menu," he said, "Wherever you swim, there are particles of plastic near you."

Charles also called for a sustainable economy model, which allows the plastic to be recovered, recycled and reused instead of created, used and then thrown away.

Mogherini, on behalf of the European Commission, announced an ambitious package of 36 actions to foster healthier, cleaner, safer and more secure seas. The Commission aims to remove all single-use plastic cups in water fountains and vend machines in all its buildings and meetings by the end of 2017.

At the same time, the EU also announced plans to devote more than 721 million US dollars with more than 30 initiatives including efforts to combat piracy and illegal fishing, a satellite monitoring system as well as a new plastics strategy for the bloc.

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat declared that some 70 percent of plastic bottles will be reclaimed through a nationwide refund scheme by 2019.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)