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This project is a borderline scam, as anyone in ocean conservation will tell you. It is completely unpractical and impossible for numerous reasons. It would als

by cultus 8y ago

This project is a borderline scam, as anyone in ocean conservation will tell you. It is completely unpractical and impossible for numerous reasons. It would also devastate ocean ecosystems. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/critics-say-plan-drifting-ocean-trash-collectors-unmoored http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/critics-say-plan-drif...

valar_m 8y ago
Do you have another link? Because the article you linked says almost the exact opposite of what you said.
- cultus 8y ago
  It has some of the main criticisms. Here's another one. http://www.deepseanews.com/2016/06/the-ocean-cleanup-deployed-a-prototype-and-i-honestly-have-a-lot-of-questions/ http://www.deepseanews.com/2016/06/the-ocean-cleanup-deploye... https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-30/two-proposals-clean-our-oceans-garbage-will-either-work https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-30/two-proposals-clean-o...
24gttghh 8y ago
Emphasis, mine: >Slat replies that there is not an either-or solution. “We need to do both,” he says. “We need to intercept plastic before it becomes ocean plastic. And we need to clean up what is out there.” Eriksen says that plastic on the high seas is mostly lost or discarded fishing gear. Fishermen could be paid or encouraged to collect it, which he says has worked reasonably well in the North Sea. The rest will eventually break down. From your link. The last part is why we should get rid of it now, because it breaks down into the micro-plastics that marine life inevitably ends up consuming.
- cultus 8y ago
  By the time it gets into these "garbage patches" it is already microscopic and distributed over the water column. What does make sense is to get fishermen to avoid losing gear. Also, trash collectors in bays and estuaries work very, very well. For example the Baltimore trash wheel. The difference is that near-shore trash collectors get it where it is highly concentrated, and before it breaks down into microplastics.

by cultus 8y ago

valar_m 8y ago

Do you have another link? Because the article you linked says almost the exact opposite of what you said.

cultus 8y ago
It has some of the main criticisms. Here's another one. http://www.deepseanews.com/2016/06/the-ocean-cleanup-deployed-a-prototype-and-i-honestly-have-a-lot-of-questions/ http://www.deepseanews.com/2016/06/the-ocean-cleanup-deploye... https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-30/two-proposals-clean-our-oceans-garbage-will-either-work https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-30/two-proposals-clean-o...

24gttghh 8y ago

Emphasis, mine: >Slat replies that there is not an either-or solution. “We need to do both,” he says. “We need to intercept plastic before it becomes ocean plastic. And we need to clean up what is out there.” Eriksen says that plastic on the high seas is mostly lost or discarded fishing gear. Fishermen could be paid or encouraged to collect it, which he says has worked reasonably well in the North Sea. The rest will eventually break down. From your link. The last part is why we should get rid of it now, because it breaks down into the micro-plastics that marine life inevitably ends up consuming.

cultus 8y ago
By the time it gets into these "garbage patches" it is already microscopic and distributed over the water column. What does make sense is to get fishermen to avoid losing gear. Also, trash collectors in bays and estuaries work very, very well. For example the Baltimore trash wheel. The difference is that near-shore trash collectors get it where it is highly concentrated, and before it breaks down into microplastics.