Did you know there is an island floating in the Pacific Ocean made entirely of garbage?
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Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of trash and debris in the North Pacific Ocean. The center of this region of water is very calm because it lies within a gyre. A gyre is a circulating current in the ocean formed by wind patterns and the Earth’s rotation. Garbage does not escape easily from this region, and the rotation of the water here tends to draw trash in. The majority of the debris is composed of small plastic pieces that may not be visible to the naked eye but also do not biodegrade. Similar areas also exist in the Atlantic Ocean. This phenomenon is well-documented in shallow ocean depths. Now, according to scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California, significant amounts of trash are also accumulating in deeper regions of the ocean. These deeper areas are only now being documented due to the high cost and limited technology available to explore these remote areas.
The researchers involved in the study examined 18,000 hours of underwater video captured by MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The footage was recorded over 22 years and captured virtually every living and non-living thing that moved into the cameras’ lenses from a depth range of 25 m to 3,971 m. The scientists have created a database of all information collected from this footage, which is called the Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS). The database was searched for every image and video clip that contained marine debris. Then, the debris was analyzed to determine type and location.
The findings have documented over 1500 instances of marine debris in deep-ocean zones. This trash was found at widespread dive sites, spanning from Vancouver Island to the Gulf of California to Hawaii. Monterey Bay in California was the main focus for this research paper, where over 1150 pieces of trash were discovered. Most of the debris documented was made of plastic. More than half of the plastic objects found were the remains of plastic bags. The second most commonly found items were made of metals such as aluminum and tin cans. Other items included rope, fishing equipment, glass bottles, military debris, and paper.
These items can be harmful to marine life. Plastic can be a choking hazard to organisms, and when these pieces of waste are ingested by marine creatures, unknown effects may perpetuate throughout ecosystems. Also, fishing gear can trap creatures. However, many animals have adapted to the presence of these items and have even used debris for shelter.
Much of the trash accumulated on rocky slopes, where currents flow. The slopes are obstacles, so the trash is deposited in these regions. Much of the trash was discovered more than 2000 meters (6500 feet) down, in the deeper zones. Water may be carrying this trash to deeper regions, or it could be buried by underwater landslides or sediment movement. This region does not have high oxygen levels or sunlight, which impedes bacterial breakdown. As a result, the trash persists in these regions for many years. The trash in these regions was mixed with items that originated on land, such as kelp and wood, which means that much of the trash is most likely from land-based sources rather than boats.
The researchers noted that the most frustrating aspect of this study was that much of the debris discovered could have been recycled. They believe that public awareness of the issue will help to prevent some of the trash from entering the ocean.
Obtained from: https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthStory
