http://www.scienceagogo.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=25618#Post25618hey has anyone heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the middle of the pacific ocean? garbage floating in the middle of the pacific covering an area which fluctuates between the size of the state of Texas and the entire US. embarrassing hahaha
Garbage Vortex, by C. L. Vaughn (on my Kindle)
...invasive species...can travel thousands of miles... invade fragile corals... local marine vegetation....
....it's believed there are about 100 million tons of plastic circulating in the N. Pacific (2.5% of all plastic made since 1950!).
....photodegradation... brittle... smaller pieces... end up in the food chain. Plastics can act like a sponge and pick up all of the dangerous man-made chemicals like PCB's, DDT and hydrocarbons....
...the chemicals go into the plastics, the plastics go into the fish, and they end up on our plates for dinner.
Trawling... may help for larger items, but the time and cost (energy) of an operation like that just isn't feasible.
Much of this stuff ends up looking like a jellyfish and being eaten by fish, turtles, and birds; or worse, seen as plankton to be eaten by the grazers. Beyond that it breaks down to microscopic size and will be incorporated biogeochemically, creating a geologic layer for the future to view.
I've heard it is rare to find a marine animal (all birds included) without plastic in it's stomach.
