Whales and Dolphins Found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for the First Time
30 October 2019
Animals
Adult and infant sperm whales have been spotted in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Inf-Lite Teacher / CC BY-SA
By Chandra Salgado Kent
Scientific research doesn't usually mean being strapped in a harness by the open paratroop doors of a Vietnam-war-era Hercules plane. But that's the situation I found myself in several years ago, the result of which has just been published in the journal Marine Biodiversity.
<p>As part of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlIXcq2ijZQ" target="_blank">Ocean Cleanup's Aerial Expedition</a>, I was coordinating a visual survey team assessing the largest accumulation of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">ocean</a> plastic in the world: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.</p><p>When the aircraft's doors opened in front of me over the Pacific Ocean for the first time, my heart jumped into my throat. Not because I was looking 400m straight down to the wild sea below as it passed at 260km per hour, but because of what I saw.<br></p><p>This was one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean, and the amount of floating <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> nets, ropes, containers and who-knows-what below was mind-boggling.</p><p>However, it wasn't just debris down there. For the first time, we found proof of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-019-00952-0" target="_blank">whales and dolphins in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a>, which means it's highly likely they are eating or getting tangled in the huge amount of plastic in the area.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA0ODA4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNTk4OTA3OH0.pWhKUDbLiGGlp5IY80LgBfTbrPpfzbEM_KyjYLhjt9Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="c5541" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1bdad49df02e4d1ee1b1ec84260b9ab8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A passive garbage collector floating through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. EPA / THE OCEAN CLEANUP HANDOUT
<h2>The Great Pacific Garbage Patch</h2><p>The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is said to be the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It is located between Hawaii and California, where huge ocean currents meet to form the North Pacific subtropical gyre. An estimated <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5864935/" target="_blank">80,000 tonnes of plastic</a> are floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.</p><p>Our overall project was overseen and led by The Ocean Cleanup's founder Boyan Slat and then-chief scientist Julia Reisser. We conducted two visual survey flights, each taking an entire day to travel from San Francisco's Moffett Airfield, survey for around two hours, and travel home. Along with our visual observations, the aircraft was fitted with a range of sensors, including a short-wave infrared imager, a Lidar system (which uses the pulse from lasers to map objects on land or at sea), and a high-resolution camera.</p><p>Both visual and technical surveys found <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales">whales</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dolphins">dolphins</a>, including sperm and beaked whales and their young calves. This is the first direct evidence of whales and dolphins in the heart of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA0ODEyOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTEwMDE2OH0.kbqnIhpFv_pijC7B3NSv7BeAp0O5jc9pJEyDXHs5lyo/img.jpg?width=980" id="7bd0d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38bcfe0f8d5795a62f64c2db1fad8b62" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Mating green turtles in a sea of plastics. Photo by Chandra P. Salgado Kent, author provided
<p>Plastics in the ocean are a growing problem for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a>. Many species can mistake plastics for food, consume them accidentally along with their prey or simply eat fish that have themselves eaten plastic.</p><p>Both beaked and sperm whales have been recently found with heavy plastic loads in their stomachs. In the Philippines, a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47608949" target="_blank">dying beaked whale</a> was found with 40kg of plastic in its stomach, and in Indonesia, a dead <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/s/sperm-whale/" target="_blank">sperm whale</a> washed ashore with 115 drinking cups, 25 plastic bags, plastic bottles, two flip-flops and more than 1,000 pieces of string in its stomach.</p>
<h2>The Danger of Ghost Nets</h2><p>The most common debris we were able to identify by eye was discarded or lost fishing nets, often called "ghost nets." Ghost nets can drift in the ocean for years, trapping animals and causing injuries, starvation and death.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA0ODE2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzE4MTUzNn0.qT6-2Rx29XhAonTqRkEztIJF8j4_MhoWpGg2KLLoviI/img.jpg?width=980" id="f3399" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="302929d69288d883de9e20814d81b922" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Crew sorts plastic debris collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on a voyage in July 2019. EPA / THE OCEAN CLEANUP
<p>Whales and dolphins are often found snared in debris. Earlier this year, a young sperm whale almost died after spending three years <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/01/digit-sperm-whale-saved-from-rope-entanglement-ghost-net-fishing-gear-off-dominica/" target="_blank">tangled in a rope from a fishing net</a>.</p><p>During our observation we saw young calves with their mothers. Calves are especially vulnerable to becoming trapped. With the wide range of ocean plastics in the garbage patch, it is highly likely animals in the area ingest and become tangled in it.</p><p>It's believed the amount of plastics in the ocean could <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43477233" target="_blank">triple</a> over the next decade. It is clear the problem of plastic pollution has no political or geographic boundaries.<br></p><p>While plastics enter the sea from populated areas, global currents transport them across oceans. Plastics can kill animals, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718346072?via%3Dihub%22%22" target="_blank">promote disease</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322703874_Plastic_waste_associated_with_disease_on_coral_reefs" target="_blank">harm the environment, our food sources and people</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA0ODE3MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTY1MTk0MX0.07OVBm48NGsGwnV-2SFeLfH33Mure6eo5EQNJT1hhVk/img.jpg?width=980" id="ce154" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d14338c5891b46e87b34859640c4c212" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A jellyfish entangled in plastic rubbish and ropes in the North Pacific Ocean. AAP Image / The Algalita Marine Research Foundation
<p>The most devastating effects fall on communities in poverty. New research shows the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w" target="_blank">rapidly growing</a>, posing a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-019-00952-0" target="_blank">greater threat to wildlife</a>. It reinforces the global movement to reduce, recycle and remove plastics from the environment.</p><p>But to really tackle this problem we need creative solutions at every level of society, from communities to industries to governments and international organizations.</p><p>To take one possibility, what if we invested in fast-growing, sustainably cultivated bamboo to replace millions of single-use plastics? It could be produced by the very countries most affected by this crisis: poorer and developing nations.</p>
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<em>Chandra Salgado Kent is an associate professor at the School of Science, Edith Cowan University.</em>
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<em>Disclosure statement: Chandra Salgado Kent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/whales-and-dolphins-found-in-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-for-the-first-time-122538" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
</p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122538/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Related Articles Around the Web
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Teen Vogue Joined Greenpeace at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — Here’s What They Saw
18 December 2018
Oceans
The crew of the Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise voyage into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch document plastics and other marine debris. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a soupy mix of plastics and microplastics, now twice the size of Texas, in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. Justin Hofman / Greenpeace
By Perry Wheeler
Throughout this year, people all over the globe united to take on plastic pollution. Greenpeace supporters have asked their local supermarkets to phase out throwaway plastics, helped us reach 3 million signatures to companies like Coca-Cola, Nestle and Unilever demanding they invest in real solutions and participated in beach cleanups and brand audits to name the worst corporate plastic polluters.
<p><a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/tag/plastic-planet" target="_blank">Teen Vogue just released a comprehensive series</a> that looks at <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/you-cant-just-clean-up-the-plastic-in-the-ocean" target="_blank">the plastic pollution crisis</a> and <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-fight-the-global-plastics-problem" target="_blank">highlights the growing momentum to build a world beyond single-use plastics</a>.</p><p> Here are three things that Teen Vogue nails about the plastic pollution fight:</p><p><strong>1. It's About Corporations, Not Individuals</strong></p><p>For a long time, corporations have tried to put the onus on all of us to deal with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastic pollution</a>. They created the narrative that recycling will solve this crisis, but to date, only 9 percent of the plastics that have ever been created have been recycled. They tell us not to litter but ignore the fact that no matter how their packaging gets into the environment, it will last for lifetimes.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTAxMzIxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjkyOTU4MH0.-etC7YPz_ee2ZZju9R-JpTBirfefo0-saP2FNGeYKGQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="40293" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4444c69192611da7cb3521f44d893a05" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A Greenpeace diver holds a banner reading "Coca-Cola is this yours?" and a Coca-Cola bottle found adrift in the garbage patch.</small>
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<p>Teen Vogue is spot on to highlight the need for corporate accountability on plastic pollution. That's why we're working with all of you and our allies in the Break Free From Plastic movement to hold cleanups and brand audits around the world. We need to name and publicly shame the worst corporate plastic polluters, and demand that they stop producing so much plastic to begin with. The world's worst polluters must be transparent about their plastic footprints and take responsibility for their pollution. It's time to cut off plastic production at the source.<br></p><p><strong>2. We Can't Just Clean Up the Ocean</strong></p><p><span></span>Teen Vogue joined Greenpeace on its Arctic Sunrise ship to travel to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and see what "thrown away" really looks like. The reality: a soupy mix of plastics and microplastics twice the size of Texas. While we were able to document some plastic at the surface and collected thousands of pieces of microplastics in the middle of the Pacific, the vast majority of plastic pollution sinks to the bottom of the ocean.</p><p>The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the oceans in general are impossible to just "clean up." We simply produce too much plastic, and much of it is too difficult to even see. These microfibers and microplastics are consumed by marine animals, and many of us then eat plastics through seafood as well. We simply need to stop producing so much plastic.</p><p>If you had a bathtub that was overflowing with water, you would not immediately reach for a mop. You'd first cut off the water at the tap, which is what we need to do with plastic pollution.</p>
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<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bc257640b86f1b1651ce12bc88fb6272"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/igPyXgTSd3w?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Top 5 Myths of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch</small>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/igPyXgTSd3w" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
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<p><strong>3. </strong><strong>The Throwaway Lifestyle is Just Not Sustainable</strong><br></p><p><strong></strong>The issue actually goes much deeper than single-use plastics. Corporations have sold us on a throwaway lifestyle that trades moments of convenience for polluting or destroying our environment. We can no longer afford a throwaway lifestyle, and it's going to take more than just swapping out one throwaway material for another. We need corporations to fundamentally rethink how they bring products to people, innovating around reuse and reduction.</p><p>The fight against plastic pollution has only just begun. We can't rest when a corporation gets rid of plastic straws or a retailer phases out plastic bags. We need systemic change and for corporations to invest some of their profits into thinking through a world beyond throwaway plastics. Our oceans, waterways and communities depend on it.</p><p><em>Teen Vogue's continuing series <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/tag/plastic-planet" target="_blank">Plastic Planet</a> addresses the <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/you-cant-just-clean-up-the-plastic-in-the-ocean" target="_blank">plastic crisis plaguing our oceans</a>—while offering solutions and ways<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-fight-the-global-plastics-problem" target="_blank"> you can do something about it</a>. Keep an eye on <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/tag/plastic-planet" target="_blank">their site</a> for additional content this month. </em></p><p><em>Share with your friends and family, and on social too! </em></p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Debris from a fishing net seen underwater with MY Arctic Sunrise ship in the background. Justin Hofman / Greenpeace
By Anna Wagner
One of Greenpeace's foundational principles is bearing witness. We use our bodies and our voices to shine a spotlight on injustice and to tell the story of what we see in a powerful way that makes inaction no longer possible.
That's why right now, Greenpeace and the Arctic Sunrise is visiting the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to investigate the impacts of plastic pollution on our ocean and coastal communities. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a soupy mix of plastics and microplastics, now twice the size of Texas, in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.
<p>Every minute of every day, the equivalent of <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/key-facts-about-plastic-pollution/" target="_blank">a truckload of plastic enters our oceans</a>, finding its way to the middle of the garbage patch. That's about seven truckloads of plastic in the time it takes you to read this article. Put another way, there are as many as <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/7-pictures-put-plastics-perspective/" target="_blank">51 trillion microplastic particles in the sea</a>, 500 times more than the number of stars in our galaxy. It's difficult for the mind to comprehend that magnitude of plastic, so how do we deal with this problem?</p><p>While cleanup efforts are commendable, in order to truly tackle this crisis, corporations have to stop producing so much plastic and pushing an unsustainable throwaway culture. Think of it this way: if your bathtub was overflowing, you wouldn't immediately reach for a mop. You'd first cut off the water at the tap—the source—which is what we have to do with plastic production.</p><p>Communities worldwide are already fighting back against the single-use plastics that are forced upon us by corporations like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Folks are <a href="https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/brandaudittoolkit/" target="_blank">auditing their communities</a> and naming the corporations who are most responsible for the plastic pollution they find. Cities and states are passing laws to transition away from single-use plastic and some companies are already taking steps to reduce their plastic footprint.</p>
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</p><div id="e4dca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="LLDAP61576664149"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1050279860499824642" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Over the span of nine months, an international team of volunteers sorted through 187,000 pieces of plastic trash co… https://t.co/Tkz3dnu7OJ</div> — Greenpeace Singapore (@Greenpeace Singapore)<a href="https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceSG/statuses/1050279860499824642">1539241206.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>Our work in the Great Pacific Garbage patch is to shine a light on the nature of the problem, and the true culprits. We're collaborating with scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Hawai'i to further our understanding of the devastating consequences of the spread of single-use plastics.</p><p>As ocean conditions permit, the crew are doing comprehensive investigations of what they find in the Garbage Patch. Here's a bit more on what they're up to:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Microplastic research: Once they enter our oceans, plastics never go away. They fragment into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics, which are smaller than 5mm. Once a day in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the crew is using a special net on loan from 5 Gyres Institute to collect microplastic pollution. We're recording what we find with scientists to analyze the types of microplastics that we find.</li><li>Microfiber sampling: Multiple times a day, we are collecting and filtering samples of water that Scripps Institution of Oceanography will analyze for microfibers. Plastic microfibers are tiny particles (smaller than a human cell) that shed from our clothing.</li><li>Debris Patrols: During daylight hours, we are on the lookout for floating mats of trash to document and record location information using RHIBs (rigid hull inflatable boats), drones and by sight. Our dive team documents the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a> traveling with these mats to help scientists study how plastic has become a vector for invasive species.</li><li>Identifying branded trash: The crew is on the lookout for branded trash so that we can continue our work to challenge corporations to do their part in tackling the crisis they helped create by reducing their plastic footprints. Most trash that makes it to the Garbage Patch has been in the ocean for a very long time and is degraded beyond recognition. So far, though, we've found more than 10 branded pieces of trash (single-use plastics to bigger items like trash cans) from well-known brands like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Schick and Rubbermaid—1000 miles from California.</li><li>Satellite tracking: Deploying and recovering satellite trackers on large mats of floating debris in collaboration with Ocean Voyages Institute and the University of Hawai'i.</li><li>Fishing nets: When we encounter large floating nets, we will investigate whether there is anything alive that can be freed and assess whether the debris can be safely brought on board.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>How do we protect our oceans and tackle the plastic pollution crisis? At its root cause is the excessive production and marketing of single-use plastic. Otherwise, we're just mopping up the floor, as the tap continues to run. But it doesn't have to be this way: Greenpeace has a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/greenpeace-campaigns-companies-lego-mattel-barbie-shell" target="_blank">long track record of challenging corporations to take responsibility for their actions</a> and winning. With enough people power, we can turn the tide on plastic pollution.</p><p>We hope you'll join us because to break free from plastic, it will take all of us doing everything we can. Now, while the spotlight is on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is a crucial moment to challenge those most responsible for creating this problem.</p><p><a href="https://engage.us.greenpeace.org/onlineactions/gShqMDRqnEKzVTuFzHNMIQ2?utm_source=website&utm_medium=hero&utm_campaign=181003_ceoplastichero__wzzzzzzzzzzz&sourceid=1004611&_ga=2.131995657.765225866.1538609604-1934834613.1536598517" target="_blank">I invite you to be part of the solution by taking a moment now to sign our petition to top U.S. corporate polluters, challenging them to immediately phase out single-use plastic.</a></p><p>To continue following the ship's journey, head <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/great-pacific-garbage-patch/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><em>Anna Wagner is a senior national organizer with <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/" target="_blank">Greenpeace USA</a>.</em></p>
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The fossil fuel era must end, or it will spell humanity's end. The threat isn't just from pollution and accelerating climate change. Rapid, wasteful exploitation of these valuable resources has also led to a world choked in plastic. Almost all plastics are made from fossil fuels, often by the same companies that produce oil and gas.
<p style="">Our profligate use of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastics</a> has created swirling masses in ocean gyres. It's worse than once thought. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w" target="_blank">New research concludes</a> that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch-texas-2551330463.html">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a> is 16 times larger than previously estimated, with 79,000 tonnes of plastic churning through 1.6 million square kilometers of the North Pacific. That's larger than the area of Quebec—and it continues to grow! Researchers say if we don't clean up our act, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/22/great-pacific-garbage-patch-sprawling-with-far-more-debris-than-thought" target="_blank">oceans will have more plastics by weight than fish by 2050</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed" style="">
</p><div id="e41b2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1BV92B1576663801"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="978315696936497152" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Great Pacific garbage patch is now twice the size of Texas. https://t.co/4MGzVMOUjK</div> — Greenpeace USA (@Greenpeace USA)<a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/statuses/978315696936497152">1522083613.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.theoceancleanup.com/" target="_blank">Ocean Cleanup Foundation</a> commissioned the study, published in Nature, based on a 2015 expedition using 30 vessels and a C-130 Hercules airplane to look at the eastern part of the patch.<br></p><p style=""><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/great-pacific-garbage-patch-1.4582626" target="_blank">According to a CBC article</a>, researchers estimate that the patch holds 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, much of it broken down into <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics">microplastics</a> less than half a centimeter in diameter. They also found "plastic bottles, containers, packaging straps, lids, ropes and fishing nets," some dating from the late 1970s and into the '80s and '90s, and large amount of debris from the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima, Japan.</p><p style="">When plastics break down into smaller pieces, they're more difficult to clean up, and marine animals often ingest the pieces, which is killing them in ever-increasing numbers. Larger pieces can entangle marine animals, and bigger animals often ingest those, too. </p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.popsci.com/sea-plastic" target="_blank">North Pacific patch isn't unique</a>. Debris accumulates wherever wind and ocean conditions and Earth's rotation create ocean gyres, including the North Pacific, North Atlantic, South Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. There's also one in the Arctic Ocean, although it isn't a gyre, but an "accumulation zone," where water from warmer areas sinks as it cools.</p><p style="">As the <a href="https://www.5gyres.org/" target="_blank">5 Gyres</a> organization points out, plastics are everywhere, not just in the gyres. It says the idea of a <a href="https://www.5gyres.org/faq/" target="_blank">floating island of garbage is a misconception</a>: "In the ocean, plastic is less like an island, and more like smog." </p><p>Although some of the plastic comes from ships, most is washed from land into the seas via runoff, rivers and wind.</p><p style="">Scientists are conducting research into ways of cleaning up some ocean plastic, but say the only way to adequately address the problem is to stop it at its source. Marcus Eriksen, 5 Gyres co-founder and research director, told CBC that governments need to implement policies to get manufacturers to clean up their acts, "And make smarter products and think of the full life cycle; stop making something that, when it becomes waste, becomes a nightmare for everyone."</p><p style="">Fossil fuels and the products derived from them have made life easier, but at what cost? We've only been using plastics since the 1950s, and our excessive fossil fuel use is also a relatively recent phenomenon. Putting plastics in the recycling bin isn't the only answer either. Low fossil fuel prices and lack of profitable markets for recycled materials means a lot of plastic doesn't get recycled, and it doesn't biodegrade.</p><p>We don't have to stop using fossil fuels and producing fossil-fuel-derived plastics overnight, but we can't continue to regard the industry as the backbone of our economies and ways of life, and we must stop being so wasteful.</p><p>As individuals, we can help reduce the amounts of plastic waste in the oceans and on land by eschewing single-use items like plastic bags, drink containers, straws and excessively packaged items; by avoiding clothing made with plastic microfibers and products containing microbeads; and by choosing reusable containers or disposables made from other materials, such as aluminum, that are more likely to be recycled. Be wary of compostable plastics. Although made from plant materials, they require large industrial facilities to break them down.</p><p style="">The real solution is to buy less stuff in the first place, reduce waste, conserve energy and shift to cleaner, renewable power sources and product materials. It's past time to take pollution, climate change and waste seriously.</p>
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The Ocean Cleanup—the ambitious Dutch venture devoted to ridding the world's oceans of plastics—announced this week that it has raised $21.7 million in donations since last November.
<p>This latest round of funding brings The Ocean Cleanup's total funding since 2013 to $31.5 million and allows the startup to initiate large-scale trials of its cleanup technology in the Pacific Ocean later this year.</p><p>"Our mission is to rid the world's oceans of plastic, and this support is a major leap forward towards achieving this goal," <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/boyan-slat">Boyan Slat</a>, the 22-year-old founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, said. "Thanks to the generous support of these funders, the day we'll be returning that first batch of plastic to shore is now in sight."</p><p><span></span>The young inventor and entrepreneur has been widely praised for his plastic-capturing concept that involves a massive static platform and long floating barriers that passively corrals plastics with wind and ocean currents.</p><p>The Ocean Cleanup claims to be the "largest cleanup in history." The team boasts that one passive system could theoretically remove about half the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-ocean-cleanup-boyan-slat-2028954014.html">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a> in 10 years. <span></span></p><p>According to the announcement, San Francisco-based philanthropists Marc and Lynne Benioff and an anonymous donor made "significant" contributions to the latest funding round. Other high-profile donors include the Julius Baer Foundation, Royal DSM and Silicon Valley entrepreneur/investor Peter Thiel. </p><p>"Lynne and I are thrilled to support The Ocean Cleanup's important goal of eliminating plastic in our oceans," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce. "With Boyan's innovative leadership, I believe The Ocean Cleanup will have an incredibly positive impact on the future of our oceans. I hope other leaders will join us in supporting these efforts."</p><p>The Ocean Cleanup plans to launch its first experimental cleanup system in Pacific waters later this year, a step considered the "most important milestone on the road to the full-scale cleanup of the world's oceans."</p><p><span></span>More details on the project will be shared on May 11 at 2 p.m. EST at the "Werkspoorkathedraal" in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The event will also be <a href="https://www.theoceancleanup.com/live/" target="_blank">live-streamed</a>.</p>
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