The AP reported last week that researchers from Scripps Institute, U. of California San Diego went to the region of the North Pacific Gyre in August to find the floating garbage problem much worse than expected. Debris were found scattered across a 2700km stretch of open sea. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch as it is known is a litter mass floating on the surface collected by a vortex formed by ocean and wind currents. About 1,000 miles off the California coast, most of the garbage consists of non-biodegradable plastic and glass trash including discarded fishing equipment. Plastic brakes down into small flakes that can be ingested by marine and avian life. A Japanese chemist told the American Chemical Society at its annual meeting that when plastic trash degrades, it releases potentially toxic chemicals that can disrupt endocrine systems in animals and marine life. The Patch is a horrendous example of man's lack of proper stewardship for the planet and its other life forms. NOAA estimates that 100,000 marine mammals die trash-related deaths each year, either through ingesting it or becoming entangled in the stuff. As the leader of the survey said, "It's not a pretty sight". Because the gyre is so far offshore and lies in a veritable no-man's land, no action has been undertaken by an individual nation or group of nations to clean up the mess. The gyre in the South Pacific is four times bigger, but no scientific investigation has been mounted to survey the problem there.Project Kaisei, a sailing expedition of activists and scientists, set sail from San Francisco on August 31st to study and document the Garbage Patch with the goal of beginning a clean up and recycling operation.
[photo credit: a crab and fish larvae caught on a piece of plastic trash, Reuters]