Forty percent of the ocean’s surface is swarming with plastic (Center for Biodiversity website). Each year, eight million tons of plastic waste are being added to the 5.2 trillion pieces of plastic that are already there (IUCN.org). By 2050, the plastic in the ocean will outweigh all of the fish.
There are five major plastic gyres, or whirlpools, in the world’s oceans. One of these is in the Indian Ocean, two are in the Pacific and two are in the Atlantic. The biggest one, “The Eighth Continent” is five times the size of France and is between California and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. (IBERDROLA).
Sea turtles are greatly affected, because plastic bags look very similar to jellyfish, one of their main sources of food. Hatchling-size turtles are affected by microplastics (pieces less than 5mm) because they fill up on these instead of actual food.
Even plastic that you can’t see can be very harmful to sea creatures, and even potentially to humans who eat those sea creatures. Nanoplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are so small, they cannot even be seen under a microscope. These are derived from everyday objects/activities: automobile tires, microwaving of plastic containers, synthetic fabrics, cosmetic additives and physical breakdown of larger pieces of plastic.
There are many organizations such as Ocean Hero and 5 Gyres that are trying to clean up the oceans, but not enough is happening. We need to reduce the amount of plastic that is being dumped into the oceans.
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