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Debris on beach near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Debris collected from beaches on Tern Island in the French Frigate Shoals over one month. Researchers classify debris as either land- or ocean-based; in 1991, the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution estimated that up to 80% of the pollution was land-based, [5] with the remaining 20% originating from ...
Apr 1, 2020 · Marine debris. Marine debris is a persistent pollution problem that reaches throughout the entire ocean and Great Lakes. Our ocean and waterways are polluted with a wide variety of marine debris, ranging from tiny microplastics, smaller than 5 mm, to derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels.
The mission of the NOAA Marine Debris Program is to investigate and prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris. Great Pacific Garbage Patch The name "Pacific Garbage Patch" has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter—akin to a literal island of trash that should be visible with satellite or ...
- Overview
- By the Numbers
- Sort Out the Rubbish
The numbers add up to trouble for the oceans, wildlife, and us, but scientists are struggling to understand how.
The numbers are staggering: There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.
Scientists call these statistics the "wow factor" of ocean trash. The tallies, published last year in three separate scientific papers, are useful in red-flagging the scope of the problem for the public. But beyond the shock value, just how does adding up those rice-size fragments of plastic help solve the problem?
Although scientists have known for decades about the accumulating mass of ocean debris and its deadly consequences for seabirds, fish, and marine animals, the science of sea trash is young and full of as-yet unsolved mysteries. Almost nothing was known about the amount of plastic in remote regions of the Southern Hemisphere, for example, until last year because few had ever traveled there to collect samples. (Related: "With Millions of Tons of Plastic in Oceans, More Scientists Studying Impact.")
"The first piece is to understand where it is," says Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Indeed, until scientists learn more about where ocean trash is, how densely plastic accumulates in different ocean ecosystems, and how it degrades, they can't really calculate the damage it's causing. There are still big, basic questions: As it degrades, do plastic toxins seep into the marine environment? If so, how and in what amounts?
Ocean trash is counted in three ways: through beach surveys, computer models based on samples collected at sea, and estimates of the amount of trash entering the oceans.
The most recent counts involved computer modeling based on samples taken at sea. The models may not account for all of the trash, scientists say; nonetheless, the new numbers are helping address some of the questions.
The process of collecting and counting is meticulous, time-consuming work. It took Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit ocean advocacy group, more than four years, using samples gathered from 24 survey trips, to come up with his estimate that 5.25 trillion pieces of debris float on the surface.
In the course of his expeditions, Eriksen collected everything from plastic candy wrappers to giant balls of fish netting. One massive ball of netting, found midway across the Pacific, contained 89 different kinds of net and line, all wrapped around a tiny, two-inch-high teddy bear wearing a sorcerer's cap at the center.
He says his research has helped fill in the outlines of the life cycle of ocean plastic. It tends to collect in the world's five large gyres, which are large systems of spiraling currents. Then, as the plastic degrades into fragments, it falls into deeper water, where currents carry it to remote parts of the globe.
"These fragments are anywhere on the planet at this point," he says. "We're finding them everywhere."
It's not too difficult to surmise why so much plastic ends up in the ocean. The Plastic Disclosure Project, a project run by Hong Kong-based advocacy group Ocean Recovery Alliance, estimates that 33 percent of plastic manufactured worldwide is used once, then discarded. To compound matters, 85 percent of the world's plastic is not recycled.
Despite the magnitude of the numbers, Peter Ryan, a zoologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who is writing a book tracing the evolution of marine debris research, says the problem can be solved.
"Marine debris, unlike global warming, should be an easy thing to deal with," he says. "We have to sort out what to do with our rubbish."
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Climate 101: Oceans
Ryan began tracking debris 30 years ago, after a colleague suggested he should study seabirds that were eating floating plastic pellets, then commonly used in manufacturing and found in harbors and other waterways. Improvements to shipping reduced pellet spillage.
Oct 24, 2024 · Marine Debris Topics: • Types and Sources • How to Help . Audience: • Grade 6-8 • Grade 9-12 • College + • ... National Ocean Service . NOAA .
It is very difficult to say how much debris enters the ocean and Great Lakes. Once marine debris is in the ocean, it is challenging to understand where it came from, where it goes, or how much is there. A study in 2016 estimated that as much as 23 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean and waterways around the world.
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4 days ago · Marine debris is a worldwide issue that affects everyone, no matter where they live. It comes from people and can enter our waterways, ocean, and Great Lakes in many ways from activities on land and at sea. Marine debris is identified as land-based, ocean-based, or disaster debris, depending on its source. Land-based marine debris comes from ...
