As 46% of fishing nets account for marine debris, it poses huge risks to marine life. The rapid accumulation of the Pacific Garbage Patch have detrimental effects on the environment. You might also like: Six Wild Ways We’re Cleaning Up Ocean Plastic The Environmental Impacts of the Great Garbage Patch Taking into account the exponential use of plastic food takeout boxes and personal protective equipment (PPE) during the period, the combined amount of plastic pollution in the sea would even be significantly higher. An estimated 1.56 billion facemasks entered the world’s ocean in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated global plastic pollution. Without any large-scale action to reduce ocean plastic pollution, the world could discard up to 29 million metric tons per year within that timeline. 94% of the ocean’s microplastics (estimated to be 1.1–3.6 trillion) are found to be floating in the Great Garbage Patch area.Īs ocean plastic pollution is already on track to triple by 2040, research has shown that the Great Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating even more plastic. Microplastics, which are tiny fragments of plastics broken from poorly disposed plastic waste, account for 8% of the patches’ total mass. Though not all marine debris is visible to the naked eye and can be seen on the surface of the water many make their way down to the ocean floor. Over three-quarters of its mass consists of marine debris larger than 5cm, with commercial fishing nets account for at least 46%. In a 2018 study, the Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be made of at least 79 thousand tonnes of ocean plastic floating inside an area of 1.6 million km 2. Marine debris are then circulating into the centre of a gyre to create the garbage patches that are spread across the surface of the ocean waters. These spiralling patches are formed by rotating ocean currents known as gyres, which are akin to giant whirlpools, pulling marine debris in. The most notable collection spans the waters between Hawaii and California, which is referred to as the Western Garbage Patch, while the Eastern Garbage Patch is located near Japan. There are two distinct collections of marine debris that make up the Great Garbage Patch. Source: Marine Debris Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Image 1: The Western and Eastern Garbage Patch within the Subtropical Convergence Zone. but rather refers to two distinct collections of marine plastic waste formed by the massive North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The Great Garbage Patch, however, is not one single pile of trash in the ocean.
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