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Most oceanographers estimate that humans have only seen about 95% of the ocean. Our oceans teem with life and mysteries that we haven’t yet explored. What’s a narwhal’s horn for? What is that lost city near Japan? What’s the milky sea phenomenon?
But before any of those questions can be answered, we need to confront a not-so-mysterious problem: ocean garbage patches.
While crossing the ocean for the Transpacific Yacht Race in 1997, Captain Charles Moore discovered a huge area saturated with garbage, much of it composed of indistinguishable microplastics that fogged the water. Further study since then has confirmed that this problem is bigger than we ever thought at first.
What is it?
The Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is actually made up of two different concentrations of marine debris, stirred and encompassed by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone. The Eastern Garbage Patch is located between California and Hawaii, while the Western Garbage Patch is located near Japan. There are more ocean garbage patches throughout the world, and they’re growing at an alarming rate as plastic becomes more and more ubiquitous.
Now, while “garbage patch” probably makes you think of a colossal floating landfill, it’s much more complicated than that. Sometimes waste is on the surface, but often it’s right under, so that you could sail through it without ever seeing it. About 70% of marine debris sinks down to the bottom of the ocean, so the seafloor beneath each garbage patch probably just looks like a giant landfill that will never decompose. These garbage patches are constantly moving and fluctuating, concentrated in certain areas due to ocean currents, although much of the garbage is spread around the entire ocean.
This marine debris is mostly composed of plastic, since plastic never actually breaks down into its composite elements through natural processes. Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces which easily trick birds and marine animals into thinking that they’re a good food source.
What impact does it have?
These garbage patches are more than gross. They have a powerful impact on marine life, and our ocean’s delicately-balanced ecosystem. Here are just a few ways that we’ve seen it impact plants and animals that live in the ocean:
Attempts to clean up
Because these garbage patches are far enough off the coast from any country, no one will take responsibility for cleanup. It’s a complex problem, since it’s hard to find concentrations of debris over such a huge area, debris is both on the surface and under, and the plastics break down so small that they’re hard to contain. It’s also difficult because filtering large areas of water of such small particles will inevitably do more harm to the organisms living in the water.
According to Moore, cleanup would bankrupt any country, and according to National Geographic, “The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’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.”
What can you do about it?
Since cleanup is such a colossal task that we don’t know how to even get started, the best thing that you can do is to cut back on plastic usage and rely more on biodegradable resources. You may have heard about people who have decided to go entirely plastic-free and been overwhelmed at the scope of the undertaking. But you don’t have to go plastic-free in order to make a difference! There are a million small ways that you can cut back that won’t even interrupt your life. So start doing 1 or more of these today:
Plastic is a problem. As far as the city off Japan they have had years to work that out. It is a little late to wonder about it now.