Effects Of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch On The Ocean 's Plankton And Algae

Every day, many people around the world dump trash into rivers or off of boats. To them it’s “out of sight, out of mind”, but it’s not that easy for inhabitants of the ocean. As the garbage flows from rivers into the oceans, it eventually combines with the garbage already floating in the ocean and results in garbage patches, which all

Everybody throws away trash with little or no thought about where it’s going. What you might not know is that a lot of trash goes into our ocean. You may think it is not a big deal and that it’s just a little bit of trash in a really big ocean, but it’s not just a little bit of trash. In fact, it’s a whole lot. There is a place between California and Hawaii called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, but is better known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. This area is the largest landfill in the world and is completely in the ocean. What are the effects of the landfill on the environment and how can it be prevented and rehabilitated to its original state?

Ocean currents corral trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage patches (Pacific Trash Vortex)

The beauty of California is slowly fading away and as environmentalists would say, “There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surrounding” (Carson, 366). According to the findings revealed by research foundations in California, marine life is and has been in great danger as a result of plastic remains that accumulates in the Ocean. In his article Daniel Woods states, “Approximately eighty percent of remains found in Oceans are made of plastic that originates from urban runoffs such as plastic trash carried away from landfills, trucks, as well as garbage containers, marinas, ports and construction trash” (Wood, 20). Furthermore, these results also revealed that marine remains where made up of disposable plastic products that constitute food packaging as well as containers that are ever present and contain precious resources that can be used unsustainably. These issues have affected the state critically and have lead me to research the reasons behind the banning of plastic pollution, their economic impact, harm resulting from plastic pollution, as well as federal concerns on plastic contamination.

The plastics block the light of the sun from reaching the plant life, such as plankton, which happens to be the best autotroph in the sea.

More than 750,000 pieces of microplastic can be found in just one square kilometer of it. Approximately 80 percent of its debris comes from land, 10 percent is made up of over 700,000 tons of commercial fishing nets, and the remaining 10 percent consists miscellaneous objects discarded by recreational and commercial ships. What is it? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage patch lies in the Pacific Ocean between the west coasts of America and the East coasts of Asia. Because the effects on marine life caused by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are detrimental to their habitat, diet, and

In the story, “Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic… Are We?” by Susan Casey, Captain Charles Moore experiences what can be described as a living nightmare. In the Northern Pacific subtropical gyre, known as the Eastern Garbage Patch, Captain Moore sees the piles and piles of used, bottles, nets, ropes, bath toys, jugs, and traps, all creating a layer of “plastic crap” above the ocean’s surface, staying completely still in a windless current less body of water. The experience of seeing what you care about be completely changed because of pollution or simple human neglect. Personally, I have an instance of this in the first house that I remember living in. What was once a house that had a lot of connections from not only me, but others in the

Marine debris is more than ugly, it kills. There are two proposed plans to cleanup the North Pacific Garbage Island. An island that is made of garbage, primarily plastic. It is over 100 kilometers wide. That is an unbelievable amount of trash. That trash island is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California. It has been spun together over time by currents, and the atmospheric pressure in the middle of the ocean is stronger than average. The island’s plastic has melted together, creating a bed of plastic for the rest of the trash to lie on. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

The ocean produces 70% of the earth’s oxygen source.[6] Unfortunately, we pollute the water with multiple factors that can harm the organisms living in it. Some objects that are thrown into the water include plastic bags, plastic bottles, and styrofoam. These materials can get caught around the organisms as well as harm them when eaten.

The North Pacific Gyre has a mass amount of plastic pollution which affects animals health, human health, and economy. One example, of animals health being affected was the chicks were dying of starvation, so they were digestion plastic in their stomach. Which resulted the stomach to be swollen and the chicks died. On the other hand, when people burn plastic black smoke is formed. Many people are being exposed to the gases that come out of the burn plastic. The two gases that are linked to cancer are dioxins and furans which affects individuals health. An example of plastic pollution affecting our economy is ruining many tourist destinations. The following tourists destinations that are covered in plastic are the Mediterranean sea bed, the

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trash vortex, is not one sole patch of garbage. It is a collection of marine debris all throughout the North Pacific Ocean (National Geographic Society). Furthermore, there are two distinct garbage patches that can be observed in the Pacific Ocean: the Western Garbage Patch and the Eastern Garbage Patch. The Western Garbage is located to the southeast of Japan near Kuroshio, and the Eastern Garbage Patch is located in between Hawaii and California. Although here is no way to determine the exact size of either one of the two Pacific Garbage Patches, it has been estimated that they are approximately twice the size of Texas (Zimring,

Fluoranthene is a one of the main PAHs that are studied and is an irritant. It is a 5-ring PAH and has a greater chronic carcinogenic effect than lighter 2-, 3-, or 4-ring PAHs. Phototoxic compounds utilize a photosensitizing process that produces reactive-oxygen species within the tissues of aquatic organisms. Since PAHs are hydrophobic, they tend to bioaccumulate in tissues to concentrations 100 to 100,000 times higher than their environmental water concentrations. These effects make many aquatic species vulnerable and since these harmful compounds are found ubiquitously in high concentrations, it will continue to be a substantial environmental and ecological concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of early life-stage Litopenaeus setiferus (white shrimp) species to PAH photo-enhanced toxicity. The information forward will detail our experimental methods, data, results and conclusion regarding the behaviors and physiological effects of young shrimp exposed to oil and

of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the exact size remains unknown. In addition, Doucette warns us that this patch contains more than ten million tons of waste. She describes the area to be a “fetid swamp of debris where tiny bits of decaying plastic outweigh zooplankton- one of the most prolific and abundant organisms on the planet- by a ration of six-to-one”(Doucette). It is now apparent that the amount of plastic particles residing in our oceans is damaging the natural habit and this trash is not going anywhere. Due to the currents in the ocean, plastic particles are

The Pacific Garbage Patch is an enormous concentration of man-made litter, predominantly plastic, which spans anywhere from roughly the size of Texas (around 270,000 square miles) to the size of Mexico (around 760,000 square miles) across the surface of the Pacific Ocean that was first noticed in 1997 by ship captain Charles Moore. In an interview with journalist David Kirby, Doug Woodring, founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance, explains that plastics that contaminate the waters of the ocean have been measured by experts to cost “a conservative $13 billion a year” (Kirby, 2014), a great deal of which ends up in the Pacific Garbage Patch. Kirby states that “oceanic plastic comes from ‘littering, poorly managed landfills, tourist activities, and fisheries,’ the [United Nations Environment Programme] said in a statement” (Kirby, 2015). In other words, the Pacific Garbage Patch was entirely preventable and is constituted of carelessly handled trash. The growth of the Garbage Patch can be traced to several nations, including China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States, to name a few, pegging the Pacific Garbage Patch as an international dilemma. A slew of problems that continue to concern marine biologists, researchers, environmentalists, and other experts all boil down to one central concern: who pays for the cleanup? As more and more plastic is dumped into the Pacific Ocean each year, efforts to get rid of the Garbage Patch have been curbed by the question of how