Great Pacific Garbage Patch

This pile of floating debris off the coast of a small Pacific island is made up of sticks and garbage. Most of the garbage is plastic.

Photo Credit: galleryhip.com

This image shows a small fishing vessel among mounds of normal ocean debris mixed with trash.

Photo Credit: US Navy

What is seen on the surface is just a fraction of the problem. Much of the trash in the Pacific Ocean floats just below the surface of the water.

Photo Credit: Ray Boland, NOAA

This bird has consumed plastic in the ocean, probably mistaking it for food. This eventually killed it.

Photo Credit: Chris Jordan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

This sea turtle got stuck in a plastic ring when it was young. As it grew, it grew around the ring, causing the deformities seen here.

Photo Credit: www.lazerhorse.org

Many animals get stuck in garbage. This seal could have easily been strangled by this discarded fishing net.

Photo Credit: bottleworx.co.za

Seals are known for being particularly curious creatures. Unfortunately, this often leads to them getting stuck in trash such as this discarded fishing equipment.

Photo Credit: www.watson.ch

Lots of trash floats on the surface of the ocean. This seemingly crystal clear water is filled with plastic and other trash.

Photo Credit: coastalcare.org

This aerial view of a debris patch is located in the Atlantic Ocean. Recent studies show that there is likely a large patch of garbage in every major ocean on the globe.

Photo Credit: www.dailymail.co.uk

It’s not just plastic bottles. All kinds of trash gets thrown in the ocean. Here, a garden hose and plastic bags can be seen along with plastic bottles and other debris.

Photo Credit: www.globalenergyprofs.com

It is estimated that plastic bags can take 20 years to decompose. Plastic bottles take much longer (up to 450 years) and fishing line could take up to 600 years to fully degrade in the ocean. These estimates are not exact, and no one really knows how long plastics will last. While plastics do degrade, however, they release toxic chemicals that affect the ecosystems.

Photo Credit: www.sciencebuzz.org

Much of the plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are known as microplastics. These are small pieces of partially broken down plastic that float around as a slurry with other trash in ocean water.

Photo Credit: C-MORE, the Center for Microbial Oceanography

There are many large clumps of rope and broken or discarded fishing nets floating just beneath the ocean surface.

Photo Credit: pixgood.com

The surface isn’t the only place filled with garbage. This photo shows garbage on the ocean floor. This is located in a relatively shallow area. Other trash gets dumped into much deeper areas of the ocean

Photo Credit: response.restoration.noaa.gov

Workers help to clean some of the plastics and other garbage out of the ocean. Cleaning this way could take hundreds of years.

Photo Credit: www.cookiesound.com

Here, researchers help in the efforts by removing an old fishing net from the ocean water. Not enough research has been done on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to know exactly how damaging it is and will be to the environment.

Photo Credit: Mario Aguilera of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography

This method of ocean cleanup relies on ocean currents pushing debris through floating barriers. It is estimated that almost half of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will be removed in 10 years using this method. It is much faster and cheaper than traditional methods.

Photo Credit: www.theoceancleanup.com