This photo is at Cox’s Bazar sea beach in Bangladesh, where Beach Morning Glory has done a glorious comeback, sprouting without the disturbance of tourists and other structures. These plants were not seen in the beach for many years due to tourists crowding the beaches. These plants work as a natural shield against coastal erosion and an important element of the marine ecosystem.

Though the pandemic has allowed marine life to take a breath, the risk of losing it still looms. If lockdown rules are loosened and when people start moving indiscriminately, the biodiversity of marine life will be lost again. This is a crucial time to realize how important it is to protect the marine environment and understand the ways of protection and preservation while allowing people to enjoy it as well.

But the pandemic has opened a great threat to the marine environment too. The single-use disposable gloves, PPE and masks that we are using everyday are being found in the sea, polluting the sea on a massive scale. Pollution in the sea is a big problem as it is, but this has added another dimension to it. This alarming rate of Covid-19 wastes polluting the sea puts us back to one of the original causes of the pollution- plastic wastes. Maybe using plastic made products to tackle Covid-19 is not a smart use. Reusable, washable products need to be used more.