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> collect a few thousand pounds In a mission to clean up trash floating in the ocean, environmentalists pulled 40 tons (36 metric tons) of abandoned fishing ne

by keanzu 7y ago

> collect a few thousand pounds In a mission to clean up trash floating in the ocean, environmentalists pulled 40 tons (36 metric tons) of abandoned fishing nets this month from an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. https://www.voanews.com/science-health/40-tons-fishing-nets-retrieved-pacific-ocean-cleanup https://www.voanews.com/science-health/40-tons-fishing-nets-... 40 tons in a month by an NGO funded by donations and sponsors.

andreasley 7y ago
For comparison: About 60 tons (53 metric tons) of fishing nets are lost each month, reportedly. [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-f...
- hanniabu 7y ago
  It would be nice if fishermen could only use certified nets that costed an hefty fee to encourage strategies to prevent loss of nets and also to provide extra funding to ocean cleanup efforts from the proceeds of these certified nets.
  - belorn 7y ago
    From my experience, small scale local fishermen are very invested in not losing nets. They are a big investments. Most would actually be very happy if nets had some form of fingerprint identification in order to combat theft and illegal fishing, especially if the police could look it up in a central register. Regulation in this area would be a win-win for almost everyone involved.
Retric 7y ago
Yet, their was more plastic in the Pacific when they left than when they started. Filtering river discharge could make a meaningful difference, what their doing is at best a publicity stunt. Another 9 million tons (8 million metric tons) of plastic waste, including plastic bottles, bags, toys and other items, flow annually into the ocean from beaches, rivers and creeks, according to experts. So 8,000,000/year vs ~36 per month. In other words they spent 300,000$ and reduced the oceans added plastic load that month by 0.0054%.
- eliaspro 7y ago
  "Filtering river discharge could make a meaningful difference ..." So basically, what the Ocean Cleanup project is also already doing with their Interceptor systems? https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/ https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/
  - Retric 7y ago
    Sort of, though without the need for a boat or people on it. My suggestion would be two different lines each collecting from over half the river. One upstream and one down so boats can still easily navigate the channel and 24/7 365 operations are cheap. Further, you need a system designed to operate in floods when the majority of plastics are washed out to sea.
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  And roughly 75% of that is from East Asia, so that's why people are talking about concentrating on the rivers and promoting recycling/new materials in those areas.
ggggtez 7y ago
40 tons is about 80 thousand pounds. The above poster said "a few" thousand. 80 is usually more than a few... But, What is the scale of the problem? How much trash is there? Maybe it is correct to think of 40 tons as not a big dent in the problem, but I'm not sure.

by keanzu 7y ago

andreasley 7y ago

For comparison: About 60 tons (53 metric tons) of fishing nets are lost each month, reportedly. [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-f...

hanniabu 7y ago
It would be nice if fishermen could only use certified nets that costed an hefty fee to encourage strategies to prevent loss of nets and also to provide extra funding to ocean cleanup efforts from the proceeds of these certified nets.
- belorn 7y ago
  From my experience, small scale local fishermen are very invested in not losing nets. They are a big investments. Most would actually be very happy if nets had some form of fingerprint identification in order to combat theft and illegal fishing, especially if the police could look it up in a central register. Regulation in this area would be a win-win for almost everyone involved.

Retric 7y ago

Yet, their was more plastic in the Pacific when they left than when they started. Filtering river discharge could make a meaningful difference, what their doing is at best a publicity stunt. Another 9 million tons (8 million metric tons) of plastic waste, including plastic bottles, bags, toys and other items, flow annually into the ocean from beaches, rivers and creeks, according to experts. So 8,000,000/year vs ~36 per month. In other words they spent 300,000$ and reduced the oceans added plastic load that month by 0.0054%.

eliaspro 7y ago
"Filtering river discharge could make a meaningful difference ..." So basically, what the Ocean Cleanup project is also already doing with their Interceptor systems? https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/ https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/
- Retric 7y ago
  Sort of, though without the need for a boat or people on it. My suggestion would be two different lines each collecting from over half the river. One upstream and one down so boats can still easily navigate the channel and 24/7 365 operations are cheap. Further, you need a system designed to operate in floods when the majority of plastics are washed out to sea.
stjohnswarts 7y ago
And roughly 75% of that is from East Asia, so that's why people are talking about concentrating on the rivers and promoting recycling/new materials in those areas.

ggggtez 7y ago

40 tons is about 80 thousand pounds. The above poster said "a few" thousand. 80 is usually more than a few... But, What is the scale of the problem? How much trash is there? Maybe it is correct to think of 40 tons as not a big dent in the problem, but I'm not sure.