Trash Travels: How our trash ends up in the middle of the ocean

1 Oceans “I begin to notice that this smooth ‘painted ocean’ seems to be - how to best put it? - littered. Here and there, odd bits and flakes speckle the ocean surface. I believe they are mostly made of plastic. It seems odd and improbable...My game is this: each time I come out on deck from the bridge, I make a bet with myself that this time I will not see another plastic scrap. But I always, always lose. No matter the time of day or how many times a day I look, it’s never more than few minutes before I sight a plastic morsel bobbing by. A bottle here, a bottle cap there, scraps of plastic film, fragments of rope or fishing net, broken-down bits of former things.

This might have seemed ‘normal,’ in a dismal way, if we’d been sailing near my home port south of Los Angeles. but we’re half- way between Hawaii and California, a thousand miles from land, a place less likely to be littered than the moon, you’d think. every day for the next several days, as we motor across the eerily still waters of the mid-Pacific doldrums, they are always there: plastic shards, fluttering like lost moths in the surface waters of the deep, remote ocean...

Let it be said straight up that what we came upon was not a mountain of trash, an island of trash, a raft of trash, or a swirl- ing vortex of trash - all media-concoted embellishments of the truth. It would become to be known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a term that’s had great utility, but again, suggests some- thing other than what’s out there. It was and is a thick plastic soup, a soup lightly seasoned with plastic flakes, bulked out here and there with ‘dumplings’: buoys, net clumps, floats, crates, and other ‘macro debris.’ I was a seafarer who noticed - at first incredulously, then with greater certainty - that this immense section of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the West Coast, was strewn throughout with buoy-

2 ant plastic scraps...

The ocean is the largest habitat on earth, home to more than twice the number of species found on land, with more discovered all the time. The ocean is the planet’s womb. Life mysteriously begain in the warm broth of a much younger ocean. There it evolved for three billion years before the first creature, spore, or seed found itself on dry land and survived. We’re drawn to the ocean. We pay premiums for houses near it, restore our spirits on its shores, and test our courage in its embrace. We coexist with the ocean, but can we really know it? It’s like the planet next door, with creatures more alien than those we imagine coming to earth from outer space. The ocean’s finned denizens zip through vast tracts of liquid space while we plod around on hard surfaces, needing our inventions to get us where we want to go without straining or taking forever. Now there are so many of ‘us,’ nearly seven billion, with all our stuff, lots of stuff, stuff that easily gets away from us. And as I look at these plastic bits bobbing around in the middle of the ocean, it seems the hinge between land and sea has swung a little too wide.” ~Captain Charles Moore, quoted from his book Plastic Ocean.

“We were 1,000 miles from shore, with no sign of human life for days, yet our human ‘footprint’ is now apparent there in one of the most remote places on the planet. It was shocking to see the amount of small pieces of plastic continuously found in all of our 100 nets, in over 1,200 miles of smapling. this should be a mes- sage to everyone that our consumption patterns, and ways in which we dispose of products, have failed us. The water in our oceans is like blood for our planet. If we continue to fill it with toxic materials, such as plastic, it will be to the detriment of all life on earth.” ~Doug Woodring, co-founder and director of Project Kasisei.

3 Great Pacific Garbage Patch According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associa- tion), garbage patches are areas of concentrated in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is any manufactured or processed solid waste that enter the aquatic environment from any source. Marine debris is our misplaced waste and trash, a highly pervasive and visible form of pollution that negatively effects marine life and human health.

As we read in Captain Moore’s account of the Great Pacific Gar- bage Patch, he says the name garbage patch is misleading. There is not an island of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, or a massive blanket of trash that can be seen from satellites. Plastic soup is a better definition since the debris is bits of floating plastic in all shapes and sizes

This image shows the approximate location of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii. Plastic marine debris and other items form a “plastic soup”, not an island or blanket of trash. Image credit: NOAA

4 Why is Plastic Marine Debris a big deal? Plastic does not belong in our oceans, lakes, and waterways. The ocean, though it is large, has finite resources and is a delicate ecosystem. The ocean influences our planet’s weather and climate, supports human life as it supplies freshwater through the hydro- logic (water) cycle, and provides nearly all of the earth’s oxygen. Plastic marine debris also harms marine life both directly and indirectly.

Directly - Fish and marine life eat and get tangled in plastic. Sea Turtles mistake plastic bags for jelly fish. Sea birds, such as the Laysan Albatross, skim the ocean’s surface for food and acciden- tally ingest . More than 260 species have been documented as directly impacted by entaglement in or ingestion of marine debris. Wildlife that gets entangled in plastic marine debris, such as fishing line or nets, can be choked, injured or drowned. Animals that eat marine debris can choke or die a slow death as the debris clogs their digestive tracts. They may also starve to because they feel full and stop eating altogether.

Entangled Sea Turtle Photo Credit: Ocean Conservancy Entangled Sea Lion Photo Credit: NOAA Marine Debris Program

5 Indirectly - Plastic debris soaks pollutants up like a sponge; 100,000 to 1,000,000 times the levels found in seawater. NOAA reports that scientists are researching whether these pollutants can seep from plastic debris into the animals that eat the debris, and then into humans who eat ocean fish.

What makes a garbage patch? Our oceans are dynamic systems, made up of complex networks of currents that circulate water around the world. These systems are composed of currents and tides. Currents are a steady flow of water caused by tides. Tides are the regular rising and falling of the ocean’s surface caused by the Moon’s gravity. Currents and tides, along with wind and the earth’s rotation, create “gyres”, massive, slow rotating whirlpools in which plastic trash can accu- mulate.

Five of the ocean’s largest currents are formed in warm, high-pres- sure areas called subtropical gyres. A gyre is a large system of rotating ocean currents, transporting water and marine debris. Image credit: NOAA

5 6 There is also a large concentration of marine debris in the Atlantic Ocean. According to 5 Gyres, a non-profit organization dedi- cated to studying the health of the world’s oceans, the North Pa- cific Gyre, the most heavily researched for plastic pollution, spans an area roughly twice the size of the United States – though it is a fluid system, shifting seasonally in size and shape. Plastic trash in the gyre will remain for decades or longer, being pushed gently in a slow, clockwise spiral toward the center.

Most of the research on plastic trash circulating in oceanic gyres has focused on the North Pacific, but there are five major oceanic gyres worldwide, with several smaller gyres in Alaska and Ant- arctica. The area north of Hawaii is called the Subtropical Conver- gence Zone, and it is environment home to diverse marine life. It is also a collection area for a large amount of marine debris. Marine researchers don’t yet know the extent to which plastic pollution exists in the world’s oceans

How much plastic is in the ocean? We don’t know. Government agencies are working with universi- ties, non-profit organizations,and scientists to determine an accurate measurement of the debris entering the ocean from riv- ers, storm sewers, beaches, boats, illegal dumping at sea and more. There is also not enough research to know how many pieces of plastic exist per square kilometer (or mile) in the ocean. Scientists are working together to develop a system for estimating this figure.

Can the trash be cleaned up? Cleaning up oceans is difficult, costly, and time and labor inten- sive. The ocean covers about 70% of the planet’s surface; it’s a large area! Even a cleanup focusing on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch would be an incredible challenge for these reasons.

7 • Concentration of marine debris changes and moves frequently. • It is a large area; possibly larger than the United States. • The debris is not distributed evenly. • Most of the marine debris is small bits of plastic.

How many animals die each year due to marine debris? Scientists do not know the exact figure and are working together with various agencies to protect marine life and prevent death by debris. It is true that thousands of animals die from these causes each year, and even one death due from being entangled or eating marine debris is one too many.

From Land to Sea - Traveling Trash A watershed is a network of rivers, streams, creeks and lakes forming a moving and flowing system (like all of the veins in your body carrying blood to your heart). A watershed has the ability to carry trash across states, countries and continents and into the ocean. In the United States, the Mississippi River and its water- shed is an example of how trash entering the Mississippi River in the northern state of Minnesota can end up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cities around the world have storm drains, the holes you see in the curbs along a street. In many communities, storm drains lead to the sea. In Reno, storm drains lead to the Truckee River. Storm drains are a primary portal in transporting trash to to the open sea or into rivers, including the Truckee River. Rain, over watering your yard, or washing your car in your driveway can send a stream of cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic bottles and chemicals down into storm sewers. Unfortunately, in most communities the sewers do not flow into municipal water treatment systems, but instead empty into the closest waterway or body of water.

8 The Truckee River Water- shed travels from Lake Tahoe to Truckee, CA through Reno and Sparks and north to Pyramid Lake. The Truckee River Watershed is unique as it does not empty into the ocean. Image credit: Nevada USGS

We might think because we live in Nevada - several hours from the Pacific Ocean - that all of our trash ends up in the local landfill. The Truckee River watershed does not lead to the sea, but that does not mean our trash doesn’t travel.

Marine debris starts out as a local problem, but as you have read, can become a global issue. Some debris travels thousands of miles. Ocean Conservancy 2010 Marine Debris report showed how a cargo ship traveling from Los Angeles to Korea lost 78,932 Nike shoes at sea during a big storm. Eight months, later the shoes were washing up 2,000 miles away on Vancouver Island in Canada. An- other ship traveling from Korea to Washington lost 28,800 plastic bathtub toys. Rubber duckies were still being found 16 years later, 34,000 miles away - far enough to circle the earth one and a half times!

9 The same characteristics that make plastic convenient and useful in daily life can also cause our plastic trash to travel the ocean for many years. Straws, ballons and plastic bottles are lightweight and buoyant, the perfect combination for ocean travel.

While people are the cause of marine debris, it comes from a vari- ety of sources. Scientists typically classify debris as coming from either land- or ocean-based sources.

Land-based debris is created when people mishandle materials and when debris is blown into the water, or when it travels along rivers, sotrm drains and sewers to the ocean and other waterways.

Ocean-based debris is typically caused when people fail to cor- rectly dispose of or stow their trash while on boats, vessels and oil/ gas platforms at sea. It can also occur when cargo is not securely properly and is swept off the deck during a storm.

Marine Debris washed up on a Hawaii Beach Photo Credit: State of Hawaii

9 10 A Real World Example Midway Atoll is a tiny island located in the Northwestern Hawai- ian Islands. It is best known as the site of a 1942 World War II battle and home to a strategic U.S. Naval Base. About 65 people currently live on Midway, but millions of birds use the island for nesting, and species such as the green sea turtle, Hawaiian monk seals and spinner dolphins rely on the islands and their surround- ing waters for survival. More than 250 fish species swim in the wa- ter surrounding the atoll. More than one million Laysan albatross (70% of the entire Laysan albatross population, a type of sea bird, breed and nest on the island each year from November to June.

Midway Atoll lies in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. One million Laysan albatross’ breed and nest here each year. Image credit: US Fish & Wildlife Service

Laysan albatross have evolved to scoop up floating organisms like squid, flying fish eggs and crustaceans from the ocean’s surface. If it floats, the Laysan albatross will eat it. Buoyant pieces of plas- tic have become a regular staple in the albatross diet (more than 50%). Adult albatross produce partially digested food to feed their chicks. Scientists have found a variety of plastic materials in dead chicks’ stomachs, including cigarette lighters, buttons, golf tees, toys and toothbrushes.

11 Laysan albatross chicks often die after consuming plastic debris because they have a false sense of fullness, which prevents them from eating the food they really need to survive. The chicks may starve, or the plastic can block portions of its diegestive tract, dam- aging internal organs.

Researchers also report more than 100 pounds of marine debris wash up on the shore of Midway Atoll each week. Visitors notice the abundance of plastic lighters littering the beach. In a two-and- a-half month period, volunteers collected more than 1000 lighters that had washed in with the tide.

So what can we do? • Recycle plastic properly. Research what plastic can be recycled locally. • Refuse single-use disposable plastic, and then reduce, reuse, recycle. • Be a wise consumer: pay attention to your use and need of disposable items. • Ask your friends and family if they know about plastic pollu- tion. • Write your congressmen and women about proper plastic dis- posal, enforcement of illegal ocean dumping, and the need to better protect ocean environments from plastic pollution. • Leave an area cleaner than when you arrived. • Volunteer for local community or beach cleanups. • Pick up litter on streets and sidewalks. • Show your support - financial, and otherwise - for organiza- tions that address pollution issues. • Recognize our individual responsibility, as human beings and as consientious global citizens, to our Earth, ourselves, wildlife and future generations.

11 12 Site Evidence from the text to answer these questions 1. How does Captain Charles Moore describe the plastic he en- countered in the Pacific Ocean?

2. How does the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration define the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and Marine Debris?

3. How does plastic marine debris affect marine life both directly and indirectly?

4. What does the author say about how garbage patches in the ocean are formed?

5. What is a watershed and how does trash travel through a water- shed?

6. How is marine debris affecting Midway Atoll?

Activities • Brainstorm possible solutions to prevent the amount of plastic making its way into ocean gyres, or about the possible meth- ods to clean up the gyres.

• Create an illustrated path of how plastic would enter the ocean or the Truckee River watershed.

• As a class, write a letter to a local or state representative about the problem of plastic trash accumulation in the ocean’s gyres.

• Write a letter to your local landfill or recycling center to find out about the fate of that are either thrown away or recycled.

13 14 Vocabulary

Garbage Patch - Areas of marine debris concentration in the ocean

Marine Debris -Any manufactured or processed solid waste that enter the aquatic environment from any source

Current - Steady flow of water caused by tides

Tide - the regular rising and falling of the ocean’s surface caused by the Moon’s gravity

Gyre - Massive, slow rotating whirlpools in which plastic trash collects, caused by currents, tides, wind and the earth’s roation.

Watershed - A network of rivers, streams, creeks and lakes form- ing a moving and flowing system

Land Based Debris - Pollution created when people mishan- dle materials on land and when debris is blown into the water, or when it travels along rivers, sotrm drains and sewers to the ocean and other waterways.

Ocean Based Debris - Pollution caused when people fail to cor- rectly dispose of or stow their trash while on boats, vessels and oil/ gas platforms at sea. It can also occur when cargo is not securely properly and is swept off the deck during a storm.

13 14 Sources

Laysan Albatross & Marine Debris on Midway Atoll. (2010). Re- trieved from Friends of Midway Atoll http://friendsofmidway.org/ pdf/Albatross_on_Midway.pdf

Marine Debris on Midway Atoll. (2010). Retrieved from Friends of Midway Atoll. http://friendsofmidway.org/pdf/Albatross_on_ Midway.pdf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Website. (2009, Oct) Frequently Asked Questions – All About Ma- rine Debris. Retrieved from NOAA Marine Debris website http:// marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/pdf/faqs.pdf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Website. (2011, July) NOAA Marine Debris Program – Efforts and Activities Related to the “Garbage Patch- es”. Retrieved from NOAA Marine Debris website http:// marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/pdf/mdppatch.pdf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Website. (No date) Turning the Tide on Trash – A Learning Guide on Marine Debris”. Retrieved from NOAA Marine Debris website http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/out- reach/pdfs/101turntd.pdf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Website. (2011, July) What We Know About the “Gar- bage Patches”. Retrieved from NOAA Marine Debris website http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/pdf/patch.pdf

15 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Website. (2011, Sept) What We Know About Plastic Marine Debris. Retrieved from NOAA Marine Debris website http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/pdf/plastic.pdf

Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup Report. (2010). Trash Travels. The Truth and the Consequences. Retrieved from http://act.oceanconservancy.org/imag- es/2010ICCReportRelease_pressPhotos/2010_ICC_Report. pdf

Ocean Currents, Gyres & Marine Debris (2010). Retrieved from Friends of Midway Atoll http://friendsofmidway.org/ pdf/Albatross_on_Midway.pdf

Moore, Capt. Charles, and Cassandra Phillips. (2011). Plas- tic Ocean: How a Sea Captain’s Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans. Avery Publishing. Chapter one.

Friends of Midway Atoll (2007). Race to Midway Atoll On- line Game. Retrieved from Friends of Midway http://friend- sofmidway.org/game/game.htm

United States Fish and Wildlife Service. (2013, August) Mid- way Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Hawaii. Retrieved from USFWS website http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/

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