Over two times the size of Texas, a collection of the worlds trash is swimming in our ocean and posing a threat to marine life and an essential resource. It spans between the west coast of north America and Japan.
The great pacific garbage patch is split into two different patches. One is near Japan, the other between Hawaii and California. They are linked by the north pacific subtropical convergence zone (where warm and cold water meet). This means there is a sort of highway connecting the patches and moving trash from one to the other.
Both patches are located on a gyre which is a mass of swirling ocean currents, a gyre, making it near impossible for the garbage to escape the garbage patch. A bottle will be transported from the coast, along these currents and into the stable center of the gyre.
The number of plastic parts is always increasing. Mostly because most of these plastics aren’t biodegradable and only break into smaller pieces. This creates microplastics which are becoming an increasingly larger problem. They tend to be swallowed by unknowing marine animals, that could end up on our plate one day. Microplastics have been found in humans, due to us consuming food tainted with them. 17% of the species that are consuming the plastic in the ocean are on the red list for threatened species.
The heavier plastics (70%) sink to the bottom of the ocean where they continue to break down. This means they won’t show on satellite imaging. The smaller plastics won’t show up either as they are not large enough. They make the water look cloudy. Often there will be items like fishing equipment floating about.
The plastic debris blocks sunlight from reaching algae and plankton, some of the most common autotrophs in the marine food web. These autotrophs create their own nutrients from carbon and sunlight. If they decrease in number, animals like turtles and smaller fish will have less to eat and many will starve. If there are less of them, animals like tuna, sharks and whales will also decrease in number making seafood more expensive, less accessible, and perhaps even take it off the menu entirely.
Another issue is that plastic will leak harmful chemicals into the water. These chemicals will also enter the food chain.
No Nation is willing to take responsibility for the garbage patch as it would surely bankrupt any country that would try to clean it up. According to a study conducted in collaboration with Deloitte, yearly economic costs due to marine plastic are estimated to be between $6-19bn USD. The costs stem from its impact on tourism, fisheries, and aquaculture, and (governmental) cleanups. These costs do not include the impact on human health and the marine ecosystem. The size of the patch would make cleaning it up extremely tedious. The National Ocean and Atmospheric istration’s Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.
Scientists and explorers agree that limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of biodegradable resources will be the best way to stop the garbage patch from growing.
Many international non-government organizations are working extremely hard to reduce the amount of garbage in the ocean. It’s a large task and needs and funding.
What you can do at home to help with this problem is reduce your use of single-use plastics and raise awareness for the issue amongst your peers and community. There are many alternatives to plastic products i.e. glass or metal water bottles, bees wax cloth instead of cling film, not leave trash on the beach, tote bags instead of plastic…
We must also appeal to the governments of our nations to invest in cleaning up the mess that has been created. A big change has to happen.
Sources:
Great Pacific Garbage Patch (nationalgeographic.org)
Microplastics Found in Humans: What Does It Mean for Our Health? | SELF
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch • The Ocean Cleanup
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