You may have seen the heartbreaking video of a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose, or you may have heard that microplastics are making it difficult for fish to breathe. Scientists say the plastic problem is taking an even bigger toll. Sharks and rays are also being affected by plastic pollution.

According to Live Science on July 8, scientists said in a report published on July 4 that they have documented more than 1,000 cases of sharks and rays becoming entangled in plastic. The actual number is likely much higher - the study only documented examples that had been mentioned in scientific journal articles and on Twitter. Sharks and rays are at higher risk of extinction than most other animals, the IUCN says. Currently, only 23 percent of the species are listed as non-threatened.

Daniel Abel, a Marine biologist at Coastal Carolina University in the United States, has witnessed the devastating consequences of plastic pollution. In 2016, Abel and his students scooped up a sandbar shark tightly wrapped in plastic packaging while doing research in Winyo Bay, South Carolina. The plastic rope left a shocking trail of blood around the shark's body.

Over the years, Abel has seen more and more sharks show scars caused by human waste. The sandbar shark Abell rescued survived -- his team freed it from the plastic rope that had been forced into its skin. But Abel believes that not all sharks are so lucky. If it had been a month or two later, he said, the shark would have been cut in half by plastic rope and would have died a slow, painful death.

Chris Lowe, who runs the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, said plastic entanglement is not a new problem. The problem has been around for as long as plastic pollution. But as plastic piles up in the ocean, the entanglement problem is only getting worse. As a result, he said, the problem has reached a point where it needs to be addressed urgently.

However, until now, the scientific community has not fully acknowledged the threat plastic waste poses to sharks and rays, said lead author Brendan Godley, a shark researcher at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

"The problem of entanglement has perhaps not received much attention," Godley said in a statement.

But Chris Lowe says there is hope that the problem can be solved. He has noticed a decrease in the accumulation of plastic waste in the oceans as people start to focus on reducing the use of single-use plastic items.

Chris Lowe says the problem is not going away anytime soon. But he said: "If we have the determination, we can stop this." (Compiled/Wang Dongdong)

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