Text Box: An Eye Witness Account Plastics Accumulating in Our Oceans I have been to both the North Atlantic and North Pacific Gyres trawling for plastics and am one of the first persons to do so. Certainly in as short a period of time as three months. I saw with my own eyes how plastics from far regions accumulate on islands nestled inside gyre boundaries as well. Bermuda, a precious 22 mile long island 700 miles from any continent is plagued with plastic pollution both their own and from other countries. The same thing happens on many of the Hawaiian Islands. I videoed it while on the Big Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Kamilo Bay is pummeled with trash from lands as far as Japan, China and Mexico. I have seen over sixty open ocean trawls between the two locations and everyone of them revealed high concentrations of plastic particulates. Every one of them. Though we were better than a 1000 miles out at sea in the Pacific and up to 700 miles away from the closest continent in the Atlantic, plastic fragments prevailed. After about the 30th trawl I became weary of seeing every trawl full of plastic. Here are the reasons why it’s a problem: 1.ingestion 2. entanglement 3.industrial nuisance 4.benthos interference 5.devalues beach property 6.endangers animal nurseries 7.absorbs Persistent Organic Pollutants 8.hosts invasive species Inspired by the University of North Carolina Wilmington Graduate Liberal Studies program, my scheduled voyages answered two questions, “If the North Pacific Gyre is filling with plastic, is the North Atlantic? “ and the answer is yes. The second question was “If fish are eating the plastic particulates and we are eating the fish, is plastic the newest member to the food chain?” and the answer is yes. I’ve collected 30 samples of items that have been either half eaten or partially nibbled on by fish, birds, and possibly sea turtles. Some have the distinctive signature bite marks of trigger fish. Go to www.theplasticocean.blogspot.com to get the day to day journey while out at sea. Click on the pictures to get images and videos from both gyres. And please, continue to support this research, the next stop is the Indian Ocean. My goal is to hit all five gyres, but I need your help.

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Sample with popsicle stick1000 miles from land

Look at all that plastic!

The Plastic Ocean

4210 Wilshire Blvd

Wilmington, NC 28403

 

North Pacific Gyre

North Atlantic Gyre

VOYAGES

THROUGH

THE

PLASTIC

OCEAN

Plastic Accumulates on Hawaii’s Kamilo beach –the  same problem in Bermuda

Once washed out to sea—fish, birds and turtles deal with our plastic -This fish died on it  in the Pacific

 see a similar story of a luckier fish in the Atlantic

 

 

 

Thiplasatic

 

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