A SEA OF PLASTIC

Plastic Bag Spill
In the summer of 2000, Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita and its Captain Charles Moore were shocked when they discovered a 10 mile-wide flotilla of Taco Bell's disposable plastic bags, an estimated 6 million of them destined for Taco Bells around the country before they accidentally spilled overboard a ship.

The discovery of this sea of plastic became known to Moore as the "Exxon Valdez of plastic bag spills" is just one example of debris that continues bobbing just off the shores of southern California.

The majority of the millions of plastic bags Americans dump each year end up in landfills. Those that aren't can be found in an area of the Pacific known as the North Pacific Gyre. Countless tons of plastic debris, whether washed out from land during storms or accidentally lost overboard, remain trapped by the calm winds and sluggish water within the Gyre's loop of currents.

Captain Moore first discovered this sea of plastic in 1997 after a yacht race to Hawaii. On his return voyage, Moore veered from the usual route and saw an ocean he had never known. This area which you would think to be pristine and untouched instead was a sea covered with plastic bags, caps, buoys and nets as far as one could see.

Animals Entangled
Moore soon saw that the plastic debris was not only creating an unfriendly site for visitors but was polluting the oceans, affecting and altering entire ecosystems. Researchers have watched thousands of seas lions and dolphins drown as they became entangled in discarded fishing nets, hungry turtles scarf down jellyfish-like plastic bags, seabirds mistaking bottle caps and toothbrushes for food and furthermore choking as they try and regurgitate the fragments for their starving chicks.

The private research vessel has earnestly researched the waters of the North Pacific Gyre since 1999. Captain Moore and his volunteer crew have been exploring this overlooked problem. Samples taken from the water's surface have given researchers a close up view of the affects of the floating garbage.

A 1999 study found 6 times more plastic fragments by weight in the central Pacific Ocean than the associated zooplankton. Researchers have collected many filter feeder animals like jellyfish to find their translucent tissues clogged with fishing line and plastic pellets known as nurdles. They have discovered the remains of dead albatross birds with their stomachs filled with plastic. For sea life, the plastic particles resemble food, a meal that for them doesn't yield much nutrition.

Making an Effort
Moore has achieved great accomplishments, including debris clean up on shore and at sea. Yet, There is still work to be done. An international convention called MARPOL bans the dumping of plastic at sea, but enforcement is nonexistent. The trashing of the oceans will continue as long as our dependency on plastic continues. People value plastic for its durability, the exact characteristic that allows it to last hundreds of years at sea. Many manufacturers and businesses have begun using biodegradable packaging in place of plastic. There are many ways the everyday consumer can avoid plastic by using other materials for packaging and storage such as stainless steel, aluminum, hemp, glass etc. Greenfeet offers a variety of products consumers can use as an alternative to plastic. Do your part to save our Oceans.

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