Ocean Garbage Patches

The garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean can range to 700,000 sq kilometers to 15,000,000 sq kilometers(That is twice the size of Texas.)

About 80% of trash in the garbage patch comes from land such as plastic bags, bottles, and various other consumer products. Free floating fishing nets make up another 10% of all the marine litter. There is another 10% of plastic that is originated from oil platforms and ships. In the Great pacific Ocean Gyre there is 6 times more plastic than plankton.

Our planet has five major Ocean Gyres ( Gyres are large systems of moving ocean currents ) Indian Ocean Gyre , The North Atlantic Gyre , The North Pacific Gyre , The South Atlantic Gyre , and The South Pacific Gyre. The garbage patch has many different things, that can harm wildlife and harm humans. The garbage patch has lots of plastics which killed over 100,000 animals such as seabirds, fish, and whales.

The consequences of putting trash in the oceans are very severe and we humans should stop doing this.

Some of the consequences are plastics are not biodegradable so it doesn’t degrade and it stays in the ocean so fish can eat it. The fish like the plastic because it looks just like the food they eat as plastic comes in many colors. This affects the environment and humans because fish are dying rapidly. In 2050, there is going to be more plastic in the ocean than fish and it will hurt the fish population greatly. It also affects humans because we eat fish and the fish we eat might have plastic in it and we could die because of eating too much plastic.

SITES:

1. Garbagepatch.net

2. Oceanservice.noaa

3. National Geographic Site

4. Wikipedia

5. www.cbc.ca

6. Beachapedia.org

7. Greenpeace.org