Voyage to the centre of the ‘Plastic Vortex’
A group of conservationists and scientists is due to set sail for an
obscure corner of the Pacific Ocean in the coming months to explore a
vast swirl of waste known as the “Plastic Vortex.”
The giant gloop — which some scientists estimate is twice the size of
Texas — has been gradually building over the last 60 years as Asia and
the United States tossed their unwanted goods into the ocean. Everything
from flip-flops to plastic bags have been slowly broken down by the
sun’s rays into small particles, and ocean tides have meant much of it
has settled in a spiralling pattern just below the ocean surface between
Hawaii and the mainland United States.
After only coming to scientific attention in recent years, little
remains known about the vortex, also known as the “Eastern Garbage
Patch,” so the expedition hopes to find out if the plastic can be fished
out of the sea and what can be done with it.
Jim Dufour, a senior engineer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
in California, who is advising the trip, said establishing the extent of
the problem was vital for the future health of the oceans.
“Importance is an understatement, it’s imperative. It will take many
years to understand and fix the problem,” he told AFP.
The United Nations Environment Program says around 13,000 pieces of
plastic litter are found in every square kilometre of sea, but the
problem is worst in five ocean gyres, or spiralling ocean currents, the
worst of which is in the North Pacific.
The plastic has become so small most of it cannot be seen by
satellite pictures, but the volume means the poisonous soup is being
unknowingly vacuumed up by marine life and birds, and much of it is
heavy with toxic chemicals, organisers of the trip say.
“That means the little piece of plastic the fish eats is actually a
little toxic bomb,” said Doug Woodring, an entrepreneur and
conservationist who lives in Hong Kong and will lead the expedition. As
a result, a lot of the toxins could be getting into the human food
chain.
Woodring said the location of the swirl - more than 500 nautical
miles from the West coast of the United States - meant it remains a
mystery for scientists.
“It is like going to outer space,” he told AFP.
The 50-day voyage will head from San Francisco to Hawaii and back,
passing through the vortex twice. It will be led by a 150-foot-tall
(45-metre-tall) ship, the ‘Kaisei’ - which means Ocean Planet in
Japanese.
Accompanying will be a fishing trawler, which will be trying out
techniques to catch the waste without destroying too much marine life.
“You have to have netting that is small enough to catch a lot but big
enough to let plankton go through it,” said Woodring. Ocean scientists
and a documentary crew will be on the trip, which also hopes to examine
whether the waste can be recycled or even used to create fuel.
The mission - which is still looking for funding to meet its two
million US dollar budget - has received the backing of the United
Nations Environment Program and sponsorship from water company Brita.
But the swirl’s location in international waters meant it was difficult
to get any government support to clean it up.
“There is no jurisdiction, no government who is entirely responsible,
so there has been no push to clean it up. The world doesn’t know it is
out there,” said Woodring.
Several other trips have either made or planned journeys to the
vortex, but Dufour says this will be the most scientific-focused
venture.
“It will be the first scientific endeavour studying sea surface
pollutants, impact to organisms at intermediate depths, bottom sediments
and the impacts to organisms caused by the leaching of chemical
constituents in discarded plastic,” he said.
But for everyone involved in the project, the phenomenon only
highlights the wider issue of reducing waste.
“The real fix is back on land. We need to provide the means,
globally, to care for our disposable waste,” said Dufour.
HONG KONG, AFP
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