The Great Pacific Garbage Path is a collection of marine debris located in the North of Pacific Ocean. Denser debris can sink beneath the surface (It is estimated about 70% of debris), making the area nearly impossible to measure. His estimated surface is about 1.6 million km2, an area three times bigger than France. Caused to calm water in the center of a gyre, debris are trapped there.
It was discovered by Charles Moore who was sailing from Hawaii to California after competing in a yachting race. Crossing the Pacific, he and his crew noticed millions of pieces of plastic surrounding his ship.
Most debris came from plastic. They most came from land-based source, the rest came from boats and other marine sources. Thanks to the sun, plastic does not simply biodegrade, it breaks into tinier and tinier pieces, a process also known as photodegradation.
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Albatrosses mistake plastic resin pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organs.
Turtles mistake the gelatinous texture of plastic for a jelly, their favorite food. They can also easily be entangled in cheap fishing nets.
The most impact on marine life is the phenomenon of “ghost fishing”. That happen when discarded cheap nets (Because they are made by plastic) continue to “catch” marine mammals, such as this Hawaiian monk seal.
Marine debris can prevent algae and plankton from receiving enough sunlight to create nutrients. When this first-order consumer are threatened, all food chain is in danger.
Cause by the Garbage Patch distance from any country, no one will take responsibility or provide any founding to clean it up.
It is bigger than you think. The Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take sixty-seven ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.
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