The ocean plastic problem goes far deeper than anything previously imagined. The problem is so bad that new deep-sea species are being found already contaminated by plastic. To highlight this, the German branch of the WWF made history and in doing so got the world talking and taking action.When you find a new species, you get to give it a name. To make an environmental statement against ocean plastic, we named a new deep-sea species after the plastic that was found inside its body - Eurythenes plasticus. This new species has been entered into the permanent taxonomic record as living proof that we’re impacting parts of the world we are still discovering. Following the publication of the scientific manuscript and the worldwide press that resulted, we launched a multi-channel campaign collecting petition signatures calling for a legally binding UN agreement to put an end to marine plastic pollution.
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BBDO Düsseldorf, in cooperation with the German branch of the WWF and researchers from the University of Newcastle, have launched a worldwide campaign to draw attention to the increasing plastic pollution of the world's oceans. The three partners have named the newly discovered deep sea species after what contaminates it: plastic. Eurythenes plasticus, a "shrimp like" amphipod, lives in one of the deepest places on earth - and still has plastic in its body. It was discovered by a scientific team led by Dr. Alan Jamieson in the Mariana Trench near the Philippines. “We decided on the name Eurythenes plasticus as we wanted to highlight the fact that we need to take immediate action to stop the deluge of plastic waste into our oceans”, said Jamieson. The research was supported by WWF and published in the renowned scientific journal Zootaxa on the 5th of March 2020.