Lobster found with a Pepsi logo ‘tattooed’ on its claw sparks fears about the extent of plastic pollution in our oceans

The lobster was found off the coast of New Brunswick on 21 November
No one knows how the tattoo got there, some speculate the lobster grew in a can
The find comes amid growing concerns about pollution in our oceans

Published: 11:33 GMT, 30 November 2017 | Updated: 11:53 GMT, 30 November 2017

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A lobster found with a Pepsi logo 'tattoo' has sparked concerns about the extent of litter in the world's oceans.

The lobster was found off the coast of New Brunswick by a woman who drinks around 12 cans of Pepsi a day and quickly recognised the familiar logo.

No one knows how the Pepsi tattoo got there - some suggest the lobster grew in a can, while others speculate that a Pepsi box became stuck to it at some point.

The find comes amid growing concerns about pollution, with the latest figures suggesting between five and 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year.

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The lobster with a Pepsi logo 'tattoo' was found off the coast of New Brunswick by a woman who drinks around 12 cans of Pepsi a day who said she quickly recognised the familiar logo

THE PEPSI TATTOO

The lobster was found off the coast of New Brunswick by a woman who drinks around 12 cans of Pepsi a day who said she quickly recognised the familiar logo.

No one knows how the Pepsi tattoo got there - some suggest the lobster grew in a can others speculate that a Pepsi box became stuck to it at some point.

The lobster was trapped by Karissa Lindstrand off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick.

She said the image was not paper but could be scraped off.

The find comes amid widespread concern about the amount of pollution being thrown into the oceans.

'What it really tells us is the prevalence of marine debris in our coastal waters', said Matthew Abbott, marine co-ordinator with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

The lobster was trapped by Karissa Lindstrand off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick.

It was being loaded into a crate to have its claws banded when she noticed the strange marking.

'It looked like the image was tattooed on the lobster claw,' she said, speaking to the Globe and Mail.

'I've just seen deformed claws. I've never seen anything like this before with the image of a Pepsi symbol,' she said.

She said the image was not paper but could be scraped off.

Ms Lindstrand, who has been banding lobsters for four years, made the strange find on 21 November and posted it on her Facebook.

'I'm still trying to wrap my brain around what exactly it was,' she said.

'I just happened to notice a blue picture, and got looking at it closer and it was a Pepsi can,' she said.

'I'm a Pepsi fan 100 per cent. I drink one cup of coffee in the morning and then Pepsi all day. On average it would be about 12 cans.'

Ms Lindstrand said she wishes she had kept the lobster after seeing how much attention her Facebook post got.

However, she put her catch in a crate and believes it could now be in the US.

'What it really tells us is the prevalence of marine debris in our coastal waters', said Matthew Abbott, marine coordinator with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

The lobster was trapped by Karissa Lindstrand off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick. It was being loaded into a crate to have its claws banded when she noticed the strange marking, which resembled the Pepsi logo

'This is a case where the lobster not necessarily has been hurt by it, but it shows that even in the relatively deep waters off Grand Manan there's garbage down there'.

The find comes amid widespread concern about the amount of pollution being thrown into the oceans.

Earlier this month it was reported one of the densest areas of plastic rubbish anywhere in the world's seas was discovered north of Norway and Russia .

The lobster was trapped by Karissa Lindstrand (pictured) off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick. It was being loaded into a crate to have its claws banded

THERE WILL BE MORE PLASTIC THAN FISH IN THE SEA BY 2050

The amount of plastic rubbish in the world's oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.

Researchers warned eight million tonnes of plastics currently find their way into the ocean every year - the equivalent of one truckload every minute.

At current rates, this will worsen to four truckloads per minute in 2050 and outstrip native life to become the largest mass inhabiting the oceans.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of plastic packaging is lost to the economy after a single use, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report stated.

And available research estimates that there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastics in the ocean today.

Miles from civilisation, the amount of plastic waste in the Barents Sea – on the margins of the Arctic Ocean – has risen almost 20-fold in just ten years.

The detritus, which included plastic bags and fishing nets, was discovered more than 8,000ft below the water's surface.

The litter was logged at two polar research stations between Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago – found half way between Norway and the North Pole.

The data was recorded by researchers from Germany's Alfred Wegener Research Institute and published in the journal Deep-Sea Research I.

In one area, the amount of waste had risen from 346 pieces per square kilometre in 2004 to 6,333 in 2014.

Scientists now fear the region has become one of the world's biggest floating rubbish dumps, alongside other zones in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The amount of plastic rubbish in the world's oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.

The lobster was discovered in waters off the coast of Gran Manan in New Brunswick

Researchers warned eight million tonnes of plastics currently find their way into the ocean every year - the equivalent of one truckload every minute.

At current rates, this will worsen to four truckloads per minute in 2050 and outstrip native life to become the largest mass inhabiting the oceans.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of plastic packaging is lost to the economy after a single use, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report stated.

And available research estimates that there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastics in the ocean today.