Scientists Find Plastic Garbage Barge Twice the Size Of US In Pacific Ocean

Scientists have discovered that there is a plastic garbage barge floating around the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of the Continental United States. This is debri from plastic thrown in the ocean for over the last 50 years, unable to break down or dispose of. It is floating under the surface of the water, which makes it undetectable from satellites above but is there nonetheless. By one sailors account he passed an area that was polluted with plastics for over a week! “How could we have fouled such a huge area? How could this go on for a week?” the sailor asked.

“Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere,” said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute. “After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems.”

In addition to the plastic soup being harmful to humans who rely upon seafood as a source of nutrition, this pollution has also accounted for the deaths of millions of seabirds annually and more than 100,000 marine mammal fatalities.

To find out more on this disturbing topic CLICK HERE