While cities and businesses across the country move to cut down on ocean pollution by banning plastic straws , theres an even bigger plastic crisis devastating marine ecosystems and most of us arent aware of it.

Each year, millions of tons of plastics end up in the oceans. Drinking straws are thought to make up less than 1 percent of that debris. By comparison, commercial fishing fleets lose or abandon more than 700,000 tons of plastic nets , lines and traps an estimated 10 percent of the plastic waste in the oceans and seas.

Known as ghost gear , abandoned fishing items can be practically invisible in dim, underwater light, and each year they entangle and kill millions of marine animals, including sharks, dolphins, seals and turtles. The plastic these nets are made of will linger below the surface for hundreds of years, slowly degrading into small fragments and becoming part of the food chain . Whats more, there is no registry for fishing gear like nets, so ghost items cant be traced back to the owner, allowing commercial fishers to escape accountability.