4 ms·

Microplastic pollution in oceans is far worse than feared, say scientists

36 points by NeedMoreTea 8y ago

petecooper 8y ago
I live on the coast in North Cornwall, UK. I lead a group of local beach cleaners, we meet once a week to pick up beach litter and I have amassed ~2.5 years of data [1] to date. Microplastic is a concern. Larger-than-microplastic (?macroplastic) is also a worry, because it degrades into microplastic over time. Our location [2] means that we don't get the typical beach waste washing up with the tides, and much of what we gather is fishing industry consumables. Nylon nets can usually be identified to a given vessel or fleet, but when they reach EOL they are sometimes shredded at sea -- which turns one net into many thousands of pieces 5cm / 2" long -- or dumped on known wreck sites. These sites are not fished by commercial fishing organisations and the nets become ghost nets, catching the marine life that typically teems on wrecks…which then dies, degrades, and attracts other feeders, and the process repeats. Anecdotally, I've had conversations with people in the industry over the past few years and it's common for nets to be left in situ once quota is met, since it's cheaper to replace a net than go over quota in port. I realise all this isn't directly related to the OP article, but there are other considerations outside the microplastics generated from cosmetics, etc. [1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDmlyQFluRCyT6m_ndoOS6MFMvcLCKqngZ5uVktJ4yc/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDmlyQFluRCyT6m_ndoO... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crackington+Haven,+Bude+EX23+0JG,+UK/@50.7408501,-4.6507796,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x486b87be4d219c7f:0xa10f443eb98d2e0!8m2!3d50.7408519!4d-4.63327 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crackington+Haven,+Bude+EX...
growlist 8y ago
I remember years back thinking 'there seems to be so much rubbish in the sea, oh well, guess its big enough that it doesn't matter'..
- justtopost 8y ago
  That line of thought never occured to me. Everything is finite, why would throwing trash in the sea not immediately pollute it? Its like those that never bother to think of where their trash (or 'recycling') actually goes. (Throwing things 'away'...) My father, a man of few words, summed it up thusly; Don't shit where you eat.
  - blacksmith_tb 8y ago
    The volume of the Earth's oceans[1] is ~1.3B cubic km (or ~320M cubic miles). So I'd say what's more amazing/appalling is that we have managed to dump so much plastic into them that it is easily noticeable... 1: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html
    - GW150914 8y ago
      The volume is incredible, but I suspect that ignoring most of the depth is useful for microplastic, which is buoyant. You’ll still have to consider some depth, vertical mixing will be a factor, but it will still be a fraction of the total volume.
  - growlist 8y ago
    This is when I was a kid! My thoughts were along the lines of: 'surely it can't be good to throw all this rubbish in the sea, but what do I know, I'm just a kid'.
honkycat 8y ago
We are all going to die buried in our own plastic Micky Mouse collectables.

36 points by NeedMoreTea 8y ago

I live on the coast in North Cornwall, UK. I lead a group of local beach cleaners, we meet once a week to pick up beach litter and I have amassed ~2.5 years of data [1] to date. Microplastic is a concern. Larger-than-microplastic (?macroplastic) is also a worry, because it degrades into microplastic over time. Our location [2] means that we don't get the typical beach waste washing up with the tides, and much of what we gather is fishing industry consumables. Nylon nets can usually be identified to a given vessel or fleet, but when they reach EOL they are sometimes shredded at sea -- which turns one net into many thousands of pieces 5cm / 2" long -- or dumped on known wreck sites. These sites are not fished by commercial fishing organisations and the nets become ghost nets, catching the marine life that typically teems on wrecks…which then dies, degrades, and attracts other feeders, and the process repeats. Anecdotally, I've had conversations with people in the industry over the past few years and it's common for nets to be left in situ once quota is met, since it's cheaper to replace a net than go over quota in port. I realise all this isn't directly related to the OP article, but there are other considerations outside the microplastics generated from cosmetics, etc. [1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDmlyQFluRCyT6m_ndoOS6MFMvcLCKqngZ5uVktJ4yc/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDmlyQFluRCyT6m_ndoO... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crackington+Haven,+Bude+EX23+0JG,+UK/@50.7408501,-4.6507796,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x486b87be4d219c7f:0xa10f443eb98d2e0!8m2!3d50.7408519!4d-4.63327 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crackington+Haven,+Bude+EX...

growlist 8y ago

I remember years back thinking 'there seems to be so much rubbish in the sea, oh well, guess its big enough that it doesn't matter'..

justtopost 8y ago
That line of thought never occured to me. Everything is finite, why would throwing trash in the sea not immediately pollute it? Its like those that never bother to think of where their trash (or 'recycling') actually goes. (Throwing things 'away'...) My father, a man of few words, summed it up thusly; Don't shit where you eat.
- blacksmith_tb 8y ago
  The volume of the Earth's oceans[1] is ~1.3B cubic km (or ~320M cubic miles). So I'd say what's more amazing/appalling is that we have managed to dump so much plastic into them that it is easily noticeable... 1: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html
  - GW150914 8y ago
    The volume is incredible, but I suspect that ignoring most of the depth is useful for microplastic, which is buoyant. You’ll still have to consider some depth, vertical mixing will be a factor, but it will still be a fraction of the total volume.
- growlist 8y ago
  This is when I was a kid! My thoughts were along the lines of: 'surely it can't be good to throw all this rubbish in the sea, but what do I know, I'm just a kid'.

honkycat 8y ago

We are all going to die buried in our own plastic Micky Mouse collectables.