Trash in our oceans isn’t something to think about only on World Oceans Day, or when yet another odd piece of debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami washes up on distant shores. It’s a pervasive, and ever-growing problem in every one of the planet’s oceans.
For that reason, here are 10 things you should know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch … and other, less well-known patches:
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a wide swath of ocean where waste has concentrated because of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Gyres are regions of the oceans where water rotates in a large circular pattern. The five major ocean gyres are the North Pacific, North Atlantic, Indian Ocean, South Atlantic and South Pacific.
- The volume of plastic debris in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre has increased by 100 times over the past 40 years, according to a study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
- Nine percent of fish collected during another Scripps study in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch had plastic waste in their stomachs. Researchers estimate that fish living at intermediate ocean depths in that region ingest between 12,000 and 24,000 tons of plastic each year.
- Trash from land — not ships — accounts for about 80 percent of marine debris, and around 65 percent of that is “consumer used plastics that have not been disposed of properly,” according to the Algalita Marine Research Institute.
- Despite the vast amounts of plastic waste circulating in the oceans, the garbage patch isn’t visible in satellite photos because much of the trash has been broken down into small bits “the size of a fingernail.” (Researchers often describe the pollution as a plastic “soup.” ) A lot also floats just below the surface, or is obscured by plant and animal growth on the plastic.
- The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is not the only marine region with large concentrations of plastic waste. Garbage patches have also been found in the North Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
- Even remote areas of ocean beyond the large gyres have large amounts of plastic waste. A 2011 Algalita research trip in the waters between South America and the Antarctic found plastic “in every sample taken.” Researchers estimated the volume of plastic in the region at anywhere from 956 pieces per square kilometer to 42,826 pieces per square kilometer, with a possible mass between 1 gram per square kilometer to 57 grams per square kilometer.
- While some creatures — including the marine insect known as a water strider — are actually thriving as the volume of plastic waste in the ocean grows, others are threatened by becoming tangled in waste or by eating it. For example, researchers believe that “thousands of albatross die each year as a result of ingesting plastic debris.”
- Plastic waste in the oceans also poses more microscopic, long-term threats to marine life and the food chain. While plastics take a very long time to decompose, even hard polycarbonates biodegrade in the ocean environment.
- As plastic in the ocean biodegrades, it releases various contaminants into the environment, including the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA). Scientists have found “widespread global contamination of sea sand and sea water” with BPA.
As we observe yet another World
Oceans Day and hear daily reports
about debris from the 2011 Japan
tsunami washing up on distant
shores
Trash in our oceans isn’t something
to think about only on World
Oceans Day, or when yet another
odd piece of debris from the 2011
Japan tsunami washes up on
distant shores. It’s a pervasive, and
ever-growing problem in every one
of the planet’s oceans.
For that reason, here are 10 things
you should know about the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch … and
other, less well-known patches:
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
is a wide swath of ocean where
waste has concentrated because
of the North Pacific Subtropical
Gyre. Gyres are regions of the
oceans where water rotates in a
large circular pattern. The five
major ocean gyres are the North
Pacific, North Atlantic, Indian
Ocean, South Atlantic and South
Pacific.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_
Pacific_Subtropical_Gyre)
The volume of plastic debris in the
North Pacific Subtropical Gyre has
increased by 100 times over the
past 40 years, according to a study
from Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at the University of
California, San Diego.
(http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Relea
ses/?releaseID=1271)
Nine percent of fish collected
during another Scripps study in the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch had
plastic waste in their stomachs.
Researchers estimate that fish
living at intermediate ocean depths
in that region ingest between
12,000 and 24,000 tons of plastic
each year.
Trash from land — not ships —
accounts for about 80 percent of
marine debris, and around 65
percent of that is “consumer used
plastics that have not been
disposed of properly,” according to
the Algalita Marine Research
Institute.
(http://www.algalita.org/AlgalitaFAQ
s.htm)
Despite the vast amounts of plastic
waste circulating in the oceans, the
garbage patch isn’t visible in
satellite photos because much of
the trash has been broken down
into small bits “the size of a
fingernail.” (Researchers often
describe the pollution as a plastic
“soup.” ) A lot also floats just below
the surface, or is obscured by plant
and animal growth on the plastic.
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
is not the only marine region with
large concentrations of plastic
waste. Garbage patches have also
been found in the North Atlantic
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content
/175/4027/1240.abstract) and the
Indian Ocean
(http://5gyres.org/posts/2010/03/27
/doldrums_of_debris_more_from_t
he_first_ever_expedition_to_the_in
dian_ocean_garbage_patch),
Even remote areas of ocean
beyond the large gyres have large
amounts of plastic waste. A 2011
Algalita research trip in the waters
between South America and the
Antarctic found plastic “in every
sample taken.” Researchers
estimated the volume of plastic in
the region at anywhere from 956
pieces per square kilometer to
42,826 pieces per square
kilometer, with a possible mass
between 1 gram per square
kilometer to 57 grams per square
kilometer.
(http://www.algalita.org/uploads/Ant
arcticData.pdf)
While some creatures — including
the — are actually thriving as the
volume of plastic waste in the
ocean grows, others are
threatened by becoming tangled in
waste or by eating it. For example,
researchers believe that
“thousands of albatross die each
year as a result of ingesting plastic
debris.”
(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele
ases/2009-10/plos-
doi102309.php)
Plastic waste in the oceans also
poses more microscopic, long-
term threats to marine life and the
food chain. While plastics take a
very long time to decompose, even
hard polycarbonates biodegrade in
the ocean environment.
(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele
ases/2010-03/acs-
hpd030810.php)
As plastic in the ocean
biodegrades, it releases various
contaminants into the environment,
including the endocrine disruptor
bisphenol A (BPA). Scientists have
found “widespread global
contamination of sea sand and sea
water” with BPA.
(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele
ases/2010-03/acs-
hpd030810.php)
