bs2> .. at least 79,000 metric tons of plastic.. coalesced to create the #GreatPacificGarbagePatch.. kept together by ocean currents and spanning an area of roughly 1.6 million square kilometers — about twice the size of Texas — is one of the most incriminating examples of #HumanPollution on the planet. It’s also a huge hazard for #MarineLife, killing up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year via #IngestionOfPlastic or entanglement in #PlasticPieces.
> These findings challenge our understanding of marine migration and survival, says study coauthor #MatthiasEgger, an environmental scientist at the #OceanCleanup, a Netherlands-based nonprofit developing technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. They suggest that in the past, “lack of #flotsam limited the colonization of the open ocean by coastal species, rather than physiological or ecological constraints,” Egger says.
> .. this may sound like a positive development, the repercussions could be serious. “The subtropical oceanic gyres are often referred to as the deserts of the sea, as these waters contain low amounts of nutrients,” Egger says. “Thus, coastal species are now competing with native open-ocean species for limited resources, and we see evidence that they are also actively feeding on #OpenOceanSpecies.”
#OceanicGyres #SubTropicalOcean
#OceanicGyres #SubTropicalOcean
> .. “plastic does stand out because of its large quantities, high buoyancy and slow degradation — all of which potentially contribute to broader dispersion of the #PlasticDebris,” #AndreyShcherbina, an oceanographer at the #UniversityOfWashington.. logs decompose after a while, plastic can easily travel across the world’s oceans, introducing animal hitchhikers to other fragile ecosystems such as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument on the shores of the #HawaiianArchipelago..