Download Final Draft Research Paper

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Kyle McIntire
2 April 2016
Collins
Pacific Trash Vortex
Did you know that the largest landfill on Earth is actually located in the Pacific Ocean?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also called the Pacific trash vortex, is a large area of polluted
marine environment in the North Pacific Ocean covered from the coast of North America to the
coast of Japan. The patch is a reaction of four oceanic and atmospheric currents that combine to
form the North Pacific gyre, also known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The gyre
compiles garbage from the coasts of North America and Asia and form coastal vehicles passing
through the Pacific Ocean. “The concentration of waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the
result of a confluence of ocean currents known as a gyre, a system of circular currents formed by
wind movement and the rotational force of the planet. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is
created by the interaction of the California, North Equatorial, Kuroshiro, and North Pacific
currents, which converge and surround an area of approximately 7.7 million square miles”
(Issitt). The area in the middle of a gyre tends to be serene, and therefore garbage that arrives in
this area becomes cornered and does not spread throughout the rest of the ocean. The Great
Pacific Garbage patch is made up of two massive polluted areas: The Western Garbage Patch,
near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, which is located between California and Hawaii. The
Great Pacific Garbage Patch was discovered by Captain Charles Moore, who analyzed it in 1997
after competing in the Transpacific Yacht Race, sailing between California to Hawaii. Moore
noticed massive amounts of plastic debris floating on the surface of the water and kept a log of
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the discovery, documenting the number of times he and his crew noticed floating deposits of
plastic and other garbage.
“Moore’s discovery concurred with predictions about the effects of oceanic currents on
marine debris published in papers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, though oceanographers had not yet demonstrated the
existence of the garbage patches. Returning from making this discovery, Moore alerted
oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who began working with Moore on a systematic study of
pollution in the Pacific. Moore and Ebbesmeyer published one of the first studies of the
phenomenon in 1999. That year, Moore’s Algalita Marine Research and Education organization,
originally founded in 1994 to restore California’s coastal kelp forests and improve water quality,
refocused its mission on researching marine waste and preventing marine pollution” (Issitt).
Studies of the most densely polluted portions of the Pacific Ocean indicate that majority of the
waste in the patch consists of microplastics, which are tiny fragments of plastic that break away
from larger plastic containers and other materials deposited in the ocean. In 2015, National
Geographic reported that:
“Scientists studying the patch collected 750,000 bits of microplastics within a single
square kilometer of the patch, resulting in an estimate that there might be 1.9 million
pieces of plastic for every square mile of the patch. Of the 20 percent of the debris
estimated to come from fishing and cargo ships moving through the Pacific, most of the
waste consists of fishing nets; these discarded nets trap other bits of trash, creating dense
pockets of waste that float within the region” (Issit).
Some people don’t see this problem as a big deal because they don’t think it effects them.
However, this problem not only affects us humans, but also marine life, the surrounding
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environment, and the tourism industry. While many different types of trash enter the ocean,
plastics make up the majority of marine debris for two reasons. First, plastic’s durability, low
cost, and malleability mean that it’s being used in more and more consumer and industrial
products. Second, plastic goods do not biodegrade but instead break down into smaller pieces. In
the ocean, the sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known
as photodegradation. Scientists have collected up to 750,000 bits of microplastic in a single
square kilometer of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—that’s about 1.9 million bits per square
mile. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and
Styrofoam cups.
The Great Pacific Garbage patch has a negative impact towards marine life surrounding
this disaster. A number of species accidentally consume plastic and other debris, often mistaking
debris for appropriate food items. For example, the Laysan albatross birds spend most of their
time on the open Pacific Ocean. They nest open, sandy or grassy islands, mostly in the Hawaiian
Island chain near The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. However, some of the Laysan albatross die
from stomach punctures. Others slowly starve and their bodies litter the ground of plastic debris
from The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Dead marine birds, turtles, sharks, and seals have been
found with large deposits of plastics in their digestive systems. Scientists estimate, “Around the
world, more than 1 million sea birds and in excess of 100,000 mammals and sea turtles die each
year from ingesting plastic that floats out to sea. Jellyfish, too, may eat the poisoned debris; they
in turn are eaten by fish. When fish containing the concentrated and release toxins are caught by
commercial fishers, those fish can then taint the human food chain” (Purdy). Turtles, for
example are known to try to feed on clear plastic and it is believed that the turtles mistake plastic
deposits for jellyfish. Marine scientists have also documented numerous cases of animals
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becoming entangled in plastics and discarded fishing nets. Marine scientists have found sharks,
birds, seals, whales, dolphins, and hundreds of fish species dead or injured due to being caught in
oceanic debris. Floating debris and the vast amount of microplastics in the water also reduce
solar radiation penetration. “Sunlight is needed for the growth of zooplankton and plankton, tiny
living plant and animal cells and organisms that make up the lowest level of both the oceanic and
terrestrial food chains. Any element that threatens the algae and planktonic organism at the
bottom of the food chain poses a threat to the entire food chain as well. In addition, though
plastics are often described as nonbiodegradable over long periods, plastics do begin to break
down due to the influence of solar radiation, and this leads to the release of chemicals into the
ocean, like bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to a variety of illnesses” (Issitt).
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is mostly composed up to 90 percent polymer or plastic
materials. The products of consumer society, the leading recorded items include plastic bottles,
bags, and packing materials. Of the 300 million tons of plastic produced annually, about a third
is chucked away soon after use. “All the plastics that have been made are already enough to wrap
the whole world in plastic film” palaeobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester,
UK, recently told a conference in Berlin, Germany. Some estimates are that up to 10 million tons
of plastic materials enter the world’s oceans each year. Most of the material degrades into
smaller particles, and none of it is naturally recyclable into the environment. “An international
team headed by Marcus Eriksen at the Five Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, California, estimate
that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 260,000 tons, are currently floating at sea.
The highest concentrations found were on the order of 10 kilograms of plastic- equivalent to
about 800 water bottles – per square kilometer” (Reed). This poses a huge threat to marine life
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and the food chain. Researchers believe, “Up to 70 percent of ocean debris sinks to the bottom,
winding up on the ocean floor” (Reed).
Erik Zettler of the Sea Education Association, working with Mincer and Linda AmaralZettler of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, discovered that:
“the plastics are even providing an entirely new ecosystem- one Amaral-Zettler dubs the
“plastisphere”. Like the rhizosphere of microbes colonising roots, there is an entire “cast
of characters that colonise plastic”, says Mincer. The ones that are attracting most of his
attention are bacterial strains called Vibrio. “These are very good at colonising surfaces
and can be pathogenic as well,” he says. There have been cases of people getting a hook
caught in the hand while fishing at sea and coming down with Vibrio infections that are
difficult to treat, he says. There are even more reasons to worry about plastics. There is
evidence that plastic microparticles are entering the food chain. Vibrio, for example are
bioluminescent, and can create a spectacular blue-green glow in the water. “During
midnight tows in the summer, you frequently see the plastic glowing in the dark,” says
Mincer. The fact that plastic particles loaded with harmful bacteria mimic food using
bioluminescent “is diabolical in its own way”, he says. Microplastics aren’t good news
for fish. The particles can reduce the efficiency of food absorption, and as they break
down, release additives such as phthalates and bisphenol A, which can mimic hormones,
as well as toxic flame retardants. Plastics also act like sponges for chemicals in seawater,
absorbing organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, and pesticides such as
DDT. Studies suggest that pollutants stuck to plastics can poison fish. We might feel
these effects too. According to environmental toxicologists Lisbeth Van Cauwenberghe
of Ghent University in Belgium, eating shellfish can expose you to 11,000 pieces of
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microplastics each year. Her tests show that commercially grown mussels contained an
average of 0.36 microplastics particles per gram of tissue. Oysters contained slightly
more. You would have to eat a lot of seafood, says Van Cauwenberghe, “but marine
microplastics could pose a threat to food safety” (Reed).
Prior to leaning about this last semester I was a big seafood eater. After conducting some more
research about the plastic in our ocean, I recently stopped eating all types of seafood. This
problem is only going to grow and more organisms are going soon going to be extinct from our
food chain.
In conclusion, the Great Pacific Garbage patch is a bigger issue than people think. Studies
shown, “As of 2015, the effort and funding needed to effectively address the Great Pacific
Garbage Patch is estimated to be beyond the potential investment of any single nation, and no
government agency has claimed responsibly for addressing it. As the majority of polluted area
lies in international waters, most of the Great Pacific Patch is considered open territory without a
clear source of authority. Oceanic conservation organizations, like NOAA, have promoted efforts
for international cooperation to reduce and prevent oceanic pollution, in hopes of eventually
eliminating or reducing the buildup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and similar concentrated
areas of pollution around the world” (Issitt). It’s strange that nobody wants to claim responsibly
for this mess or at least address the issue. “In 2014, the state Illinois passed the world’s first ban
on microbeads, after studies showed that the tiny plastic particles are a common pollutant
floating on the surface of the Great Lakes. US senator Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing for
legislation that will ban microbeads in all US cosmetics. Some manufactures have already acted:
Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson have all committed to
eliminating these beads from their products. Various suggestions for keeping plastic out of the
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ocean include recycling and reusing plastic, opting for items that use fewer or no plastic
materials in either content or packaging, and initiating local clean-up activities on all beaches”
(Reed). Some groups are hoping to harvest plastic from gyres. Last year, an organization called
The Ocean Clean up completed a trial of a floating boom system in the Atlantic near the Azores.
Based on the results, the group estimates that floating debris in a single gyre could be cleared in
five to ten years without harming marine life. The plastic in the ocean is huge problem, and
affects everyone around the world. My main intention of this paper was to speak more about this
issue and raise awareness. Next time you think about littering on the beach think twice, and
really consider who you are harming from not recycling.
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Works Citied
Issitt, Micah. "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2015): Research
Starters. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
MacInnes, David F., Jr., and Karen N. Kähler. "Ocean Pollution." Salem Press
Encyclopedia (2015):Research Starters. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
Purdy, Elizabeth Rholetter. "Mid-Pacific Gyre." Salem Press Encyclopedia Of
Science (2015):Research Starters. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
Reed, Christina. "Paying With Plastic The Plastic Age Plastic Dystopia Cold
Plastic." New Scientist225.3006 (2015): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.