The Overwhelming Amount of Plastic in the Ocean Isn't What You Think
Lonnie Lee Hood - Yesterday 2:00 PM
Nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup said their study found commercial fishing responsible for much of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The more we learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — that unappealing soup of mostly-tiny, partially submerged plastic particles stuck in a gyre of ocean currents — the less we seem to know.
Last week, a nonprofit called The Ocean Cleanup published a study in the journal Scientific Reports finding that surprisingly, the horrid patch doesn't appear to be comprised mainly of plastic straws and other common targets of anti-plastic sentiments. Instead, in a window on the destructive power of the global fishing industry, they found that the majority of the flotsam appears to have come from fishing nets and ropes.
"This comprehensive analysis revealed that roughly a third of the items were unidentifiable fragments," the org said in a statement about its work. "The other two-thirds was dominated by objects typically used in fishing, such as floats, buoys, crates, buckets, baskets, containers, drums, jerry cans, fish boxes, and eel traps."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-overwhelming-amount-of-plastic-in-the-ocean-isn-t-what-you-think/ar-AA11xcsU?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9235922601c94424ab024f17e24f50e8
