Page 9 - My FlipBook

study. “A certain sector of the merchant fl eet seems to be doing
that, and it seems to be largely an Asian one.” 8
Shipping vessels are not the only culprits of ocean pollution.
Fishing boats also contribute to ocean litter by dumping their used
fi shing nets and other gear overboard. Once made of biodegrad-
able materials such as tree fi bers and cotton, fi shing nets are now
almost exclusively made of plastic. Every year, some 705,500
tons (640,018 metric tons) of nets and other fi shing gear are lost
due to rough weather or are discarded, often to cover up illegal
fi shing activities. This “ghost gear” can linger in the water for hun-
dreds of years, presenting a hazard to marine life. Plastic nets can
extend for miles, and even after they are abandoned, they can
continue to catch fi sh, a process known as ghost fi shing.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Ghost fi shing nets make up almost half of a fl oating mass of
ocean litter known as the Great Pacifi c Garbage Patch (GPGP).
In 1997 oceanographer Charles Moore discovered the GPGP in
the North Pacifi c Ocean as he sailed
his yacht through the area after IMPACT FACTS
competing in an ocean race. He col- Seventy-three percent of
orfully describes the phenomenon all beach trash around the
he saw: “It was and is a thin plastic world is plastic.
soup, a soup lightly seasoned with
plastic fl akes, bulked out here and —National Geographic Society
there with ‘dumplings’: buoys, net
clumps, fl oats, crates, and other ‘macro debris.’ . . . This im-
mense section of the northeastern Pacifi c Ocean, about halfway
between Hawaii and The West Coast, was strewn throughout
with buoyant plastic scraps.” 9
Moore estimated that the “soup” was approximately the size
of Texas (although twenty years later, it had reportedly doubled
in size). Media reports soon brought the GPGP to the attention
of the general public, and it became a vivid example of the way
humans are impacting the oceans.

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