A recent report from UCLA said the plastic waste stream entering the world's oceans has been completely mismanaged. Plastic debris is one of the most significant environmental problems for marine environments. The experts offered a list of ten proposed actions including an international treaty and extended producer responsibility for plastic. In response to the increased public awareness of plastic junk poisoning wildlife the EPA announced it would increase efforts to monitor and assess impacts of marine litter. However, it declined to address plastic pollution under authority of the Clean Water Act. The Ocean Dumping Act of 1972 also gives it authority to regulate some types of pollution such as sewage from entering territorial waters. This modest response comes after decades of neglect. How much plastic waste enters the oceans is not known because of lack of reporting requirements, but environmental scientists think it may be 20 million or more per year. The EPA is not ready to impose limits on plastic pollution despite the fact that it poses a direct and lethal effects on marine life. Curious marine mammals get entangled and drown, seabirds feed small pieces of colorful plastic to their young, and sea turtles eat plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish. Particularly dangerous to marine life are "nurdles",
small pellets of plastic used in manufacturing, and microscopic particles of partially degraded plastic that enter the marine food chain via invertebrates and fish. The garbage is present throughout the water column from seabed to surface, and is concentrated by currents in giant ocean eddies. The North Pacific gyre is a well known marine garbage dump, in some cases so thick it poses a navigational hazard.
