More than 1 million fish, birds, and water mammals die each year because of plastic in the ocean. There is so much plastic and other garbage in the North Pacific Gyre that the millions of plankton living there weigh less than the trash. This debris causes a threat to many ocean animals that may eat it. The sad thing is there is at least five gyres(circular ocean currents) that suck in the trash. Scientists say that the size of the great pacific gyre patch is anywhere between 600,000 square miles and 3.8 million square miles. But it could be even greater than that.
How was this made? Over three fourths of the trash in the great patch comes from Asia and North America. The debris can take anywhere from 1 to 6 years to travel there. The remainder of the trash comes from oil rigs, freight ships, or other boaters. Many ships loose cargo or fishing nets. The circular motion of the gyre draws debris into this stable center, where it becomes trapped.
How can we clean it up? In 1997 Charles Moore accidentally sailed through the garbage patch. When he saw all the garbage he decided that he needed to do something about it. As soon as he reached land he started the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. This foundation study’s and try’s to prevent further litter in the patch of the ocean. Many scientists say that there is no way to clean out the plastics, but we can reduce expansion. Because the plastic pieces are so small we can never remove all of it. If we tried using nets that would catch many sea animals as well.
How can we prevent expansion? The best way to stop the expansion of the gyre is to reduce plastic waste because plastics never decompose or take hundreds of years to do so. Because we can’t clean up the trash the only way to help is to reduce the amount of nonperishable plastics we use. Instead we should be using more biodegradable resources. Easy ways to do this is by using paper instead of plastic, choosing a product that has less packaging, or using a reusable water bottle instead of a plastic water bottle.
Think of all the animals that could be saved just by limiting plastic use. The great pacific garbage patch is only about one hundredth of the world’s oceans, but holds an estimated 7 million tons of garbage. Just think about how much garbage is in all the oceans.
How much plastic waste do you and your family produce each year?
Can you think of anything else that weighs similar to the garbage in this part of the ocean?
What can you and your family do to prevent expansion?