1. Litter and pollution

2. Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are collectively called “cetaceans”. They are mammals like us – they breathe air and give birth to live young.

3. This map shows where some of them are usually seen.
Blue whale
Bottlenose dolphin
Minke whale
Orca
Humpback whale
Risso’s dolphin
Harbour porpoise
23 different kinds of whales and dolphins have been spotted around the coast of Britain, including the biggest in the world – the blue whale. The most commonly spotted species are the harbour porpoise, which is the smallest British cetacean (about 1.5m long), the bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin and minke whale.
Common dolphin
Sperm whale
This map shows where some of them are usually seen.

4. © Charlie Phillips/WDC

5. What is this dolphin doing?
Dolphins eat fish, but they eat other creatures as well – including jellyfish. Can you see this dolphin playing with the jellyfish?
What rubbish ends up in the sea that a dolphin might mistake for a jellyfish?
The answer is – a plastic bag. These float through the water the same way jellyfish do. But what happens if whales and dolphins eat them?
© Charlie Phillips/ WDC

7. Cuvier’s Beaked Whale
A Cuvier’s beaked whale washed up in February 2017 in Norway. It died because its stomach was full of rubbish.
© Lucy Molleson

8. All of this was found in the whale’s stomach: 30 plastic bags
Sweet wrappers
Bread bags
Crisp packet
The whale washed up in Norway, but there were British supermarket carrier bags in its stomach too.
Inside its stomach there were 30 plastic carrier bags, including some from British shops, sweet wrappers, a crisp packet and bread bags, as shown in the photograph.

9. Class activity: What can be recycled?
As well as the class version, you can access an online version of this activity to complete on iPads/table computers:
Make sure the children make a copy of the file before they start the activity so they don’t edit the master copy. (File  Make a copy)

10. Henderson Island
Henderson island, an island uninhabited by people, in the Pacific Ocean, is covered with 18 tonnes of plastic litter – the highest recorded density of plastic pollution anywhere. The ocean around this island is within the range of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.

11. Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin
© Dr. John Wang

12. Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin Habitat
© Dr. John Wang

13. Class activity: How long does rubbish take to break down?

14. What threats to whales and dolphins can you see?
What threats to whales and dolphins can the children see in these photos?
In this one, the pollution from the factories could get into the water and be toxic to the dolphins. The emissions will also contribute to climate change, which is harming the oceans, for example by making the water acidic.
© Dr. John Wang

15. What threats to whales and dolphins can you see?
These animals are at risk from collision with the boat, and could also mistake the balloon for food and eat it, which could cause a blockage in their stomach.
©M.Rickard

16. Class activity: Shopping choices
Ingredients you need:
Tomatoes
Onions
Pasta
Olive oil
We can all help by making sure we recycle as much as can, and avoid buying food wrapped in non-recyclable plastic wherever possible.
Imagine you were making this pasta bake – what would be the best shopping choices to get all of the ingredients you need?

17. Echolocation
‘Melon’
Toothed whales and dolphins use large fat deposits in their foreheads (the “melon”) to focus a beam of sound which they send out. When this hits an object, such as fish or other prey, an echo returns to the dolphin and enables it to place where the prey is.
This allows whales and dolphins to find their food even in the depths of the ocean where light doesn’t penetrate, or in very silty/muddy water (such as river dolphin habitats). Sound travels about 5x as efficiently in water as in air, so hearing is a very informative sense for whales and dolphins, more so than vision. River dolphins can detect something as small as 1mm across using their echolocation.

18. Class activity: Echolocation game
Play the echolocation game with the extension activity, which shows how harmful noise can be as a form of pollution affecting whales and dolphins.

19. Plastic items we only use once
Straws
Clingfilm/plastic wrap
Fruit and vegetable wrapping
Plastic cutlery and plates
Balloons
Plastic cups
Drinks bottles
Carrier bags
Takeaway containers
What can the children think of that’s made from plastic that we only use once and then throw away?
e.g. straws, packaging, plastic cutlery/plates, balloons, cups, plastic bottle, carrier bags, takeaway containers – click to display some answers.

20. How can we all help whales and dolphins?
Get a reusable water bottle
Don’t use plastic straws
Use reusable shopping bags
Don’t let go of a balloon
Buy food in as little packaging as possible
Don’t drop litter, and put it in the right bin
Pick up litter, especially on beaches
Ask the children what ideas they have to try to reduce the amount of litter getting into the oceans. Then click to show some answers.
As two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, if you let go of a balloon it is most likely to end up there.

21. Class activity: Design a safe fishing net
Humans are part of food webs too, and fish are an important source of food for many people around the world. Fish is the primary source of protein for a large part of the world’s human population. Interestingly, and a bit surprisingly, the more whales there are in the ocean, the more fish there are too! You might expect there would be fewer fish, as some whales eat fish, but whale poo is a vital source of nutrients supporting the plankton at the bottom of the food chain, which the fish need to feed on. Without whales, the nutrients sink to the bottom of the ocean and there is nothing to bring them back up to the surface, where the plankton need to live (as they need sunlight).
But getting caught in fishing nets is a huge problem for whales and dolphins, and is the leading cause of death. When whales and dolphins are accidentally caught in nets they suffocate and die, as they can’t get to the surface to breathe. This is called bycatch. Often this happens when fishing nets have been abandoned in the water, and they continue to catch animals long after the fishing crew have left.
Can the children design a fishing net that can catch the fish people need to eat, but that is safe for whales and dolphins?
For inspiration: a net designed to allow turtles to escape - video

22. Class activity: Ocean litter jumble quiz
To join in, the children will need to use iPads/tablet computers connected to the internet.
In this quiz, they will be asked to:
Sort rubbish into the time it takes to break down from shortest to longest;
Put their shopping options for tomatoes in order from best choice to worst.

23. Class activity: Litter and pollution quiz
To join in, the children will need to use iPads/tablet computers connected to the internet.