Serpo
11th December 2014, 01:39 PM
Shocking image of dead albatross's stomach stuffed with plastic reveals just how much garbage is in our oceans
Weight of plastic pollution in the seas is estimated to be 269,000 tonnes
Data was combined with a computer simulation of floating debris dispersal
It indicated that the oceans contain at least 5.25 trillion plastic pieces
Albatrosses on remote islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic their stomachs become full and they die
Sea turtles have also been found starving after mistakenly eating plastic
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Victoria+Woollaston+for+MailOnline)
Published: 05:01 AEST, 11 December 2014 | Updated: 04:35 AEST, 12 December 2014
335 shares
81
View comments
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2868708/More-five-TRILLION-pieces-plastic-litter-seas-oceans.html#comments)
More than five trillion pieces of plastic - weighing as much as two large cruise liners - are floating in the world's oceans.
The total weight of all the plastic pollution in the seas is estimated to be almost 269,000 tonnes.
And it has become such a problem that albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic their stomachs become full and they die.
The sharp foreign objects seen in these selection of shocking images also lacerate their gut walls.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/11/23F88D3900000578-2868708-image-a-1_1418303042951.jpg
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die (body of an albatross pictured with a stomach full of plastic). The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls
An international team of scientists made the calculation after gathering data from 24 expeditions mounted over a period of six years between 2007 and 2013.
Towed nets were used to scoop up plastic from five sub-tropical 'gyres' - huge areas of circulating ocean currents - as well as coastal Australia, the Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea.
Visual surveys provided information about large fragments of plastic material.
RELATED ARTICLES
This data was combined, and a computer simulation of floating debris dispersal was used to indicate the oceans contain at least 5.25 trillion plastic pieces weighing 268,940 tonnes.
The plastic ranged from tiny particles less than a millimetre wide, to 'macro' fragments more than eight inches (20 centimetres) across.
DANGERS OF PLASTIC POLLUTION
In September, a leading marine expert warned about the growing threat of plastic pollution in our seas and oceans.
Charles J. Moore, a US merchant marine captain and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Institute in Long Beach, California, said he is ‘utterly shocked’ at the massive increase in plastic litter found floating on the sea’s surface in the past five years.
He suggests it is a greater threat than climate change, and added: ‘It’s choking our future in ways that most of us are barely aware.’
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die.
The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls.
It was recently estimated that 90 per cent of seabirds found dead on beaches have ingested plastic.
Sub-tropical gyres are known to gather up plastic, but the research revealed that the rubbish was not confined to these ocean 'dustbins'.
The smallest particles were distributed to remote parts of the world, including sub-polar regions, suggesting that the gyres 'shredded' large plastic items and ejected the pieces.
Lead researcher Dr Marcus Eriksen, director of research at the Five Gyres Institute in Los Angeles, said: 'Our findings show that the garbage patches in the middle of the five sub-tropical gyres are not the final resting places for the world's floating plastic trash.
'The end-game for micro-plastic is interactions with entire ocean ecosystems.'
Large plastics appeared to be abundant near coastlines, the scientists found.
The amount of 'microplastic' particles on the surface of the oceans was much less than expected, suggesting that some of it was being removed.
Removal processes included degradation by sunlight, biodegradation, loss of buoyancy, entanglement with settling detritus, beaching, and ingestion by fish and other organisms.
Writing in the online journal Plos One, the scientists concluded: 'This is the first study that compares all sizes of floating plastic in the world's oceans from the largest items to small microplastics.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/11/23F88BBB00000578-2868708-image-a-2_1418303138023.jpg
Although the birds live on Midway Atoll in the north Pacific, 2,000 miles from any substantial land, their isolation doesn't save them from the global problem. The Laysan Albatrosses nesting there mistake the floating plastic for food and bring it back for their chicks who die eating it (pictured)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F60E00000578-2868708-The_total_weight_of_all_the_plastic_pollution_in_t he_seas_stock_-a-1_1418231583350.jpg
The total weight of all the plastic pollution in the seas (stock image) is estimated to be almost 269,000 tonnes. An international team of scientists made the calculation after gathering data from 24 expeditions mounted over a period of six years between 2007 and 2013
'Plastics of all sizes were found in all ocean regions, converging in accumulation zones in the sub-tropical gyres, including southern hemisphere gyres where coastal population density is much lower than in the northern hemisphere.'
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die. The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls.
Elsewhere, the bodies of sea turtles are being found with stomachs full of plastic, because they are prone to mistaking bags for jellyfish.
The plastic can block the digestive tract, leading to a slow death from starvation.
It was recently estimated that 90 per cent of seabirds found dead on beaches have ingested plastic.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F61500000578-2868708-The_amount_of_plastic_on_the_surface_of_the_oceans _was_much_less-a-2_1418231737535.jpg
The amount of plastic on the surface of the oceans was much less than expected, suggesting that some of it is being removed. Removal processes included degradation by sunlight, biodegradation, loss of buoyancy, entanglement with settling detritus, beaching, and ingestion by fish and other organisms
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F62400000578-0-Elsewhere_the_bodies_of_sea_turtles_are_being_foun d_with_stomach-a-67_1418227525827.jpg
Elsewhere, the bodies of sea turtles are being found with stomachs full of plastic, (plastic taken from the gut of a sea turtle corpse is pictured) because they are prone to mistaking bags for jellyfish. The plastic can block the digestive tract, leading to a slow death from starvation
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2868708/More-five-TRILLION-pieces-plastic-litter-seas-oceans.html#ixzz3LcyyZNJZ
Weight of plastic pollution in the seas is estimated to be 269,000 tonnes
Data was combined with a computer simulation of floating debris dispersal
It indicated that the oceans contain at least 5.25 trillion plastic pieces
Albatrosses on remote islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic their stomachs become full and they die
Sea turtles have also been found starving after mistakenly eating plastic
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Victoria+Woollaston+for+MailOnline)
Published: 05:01 AEST, 11 December 2014 | Updated: 04:35 AEST, 12 December 2014
335 shares
81
View comments
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2868708/More-five-TRILLION-pieces-plastic-litter-seas-oceans.html#comments)
More than five trillion pieces of plastic - weighing as much as two large cruise liners - are floating in the world's oceans.
The total weight of all the plastic pollution in the seas is estimated to be almost 269,000 tonnes.
And it has become such a problem that albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic their stomachs become full and they die.
The sharp foreign objects seen in these selection of shocking images also lacerate their gut walls.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/11/23F88D3900000578-2868708-image-a-1_1418303042951.jpg
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die (body of an albatross pictured with a stomach full of plastic). The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls
An international team of scientists made the calculation after gathering data from 24 expeditions mounted over a period of six years between 2007 and 2013.
Towed nets were used to scoop up plastic from five sub-tropical 'gyres' - huge areas of circulating ocean currents - as well as coastal Australia, the Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea.
Visual surveys provided information about large fragments of plastic material.
RELATED ARTICLES
This data was combined, and a computer simulation of floating debris dispersal was used to indicate the oceans contain at least 5.25 trillion plastic pieces weighing 268,940 tonnes.
The plastic ranged from tiny particles less than a millimetre wide, to 'macro' fragments more than eight inches (20 centimetres) across.
DANGERS OF PLASTIC POLLUTION
In September, a leading marine expert warned about the growing threat of plastic pollution in our seas and oceans.
Charles J. Moore, a US merchant marine captain and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Institute in Long Beach, California, said he is ‘utterly shocked’ at the massive increase in plastic litter found floating on the sea’s surface in the past five years.
He suggests it is a greater threat than climate change, and added: ‘It’s choking our future in ways that most of us are barely aware.’
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die.
The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls.
It was recently estimated that 90 per cent of seabirds found dead on beaches have ingested plastic.
Sub-tropical gyres are known to gather up plastic, but the research revealed that the rubbish was not confined to these ocean 'dustbins'.
The smallest particles were distributed to remote parts of the world, including sub-polar regions, suggesting that the gyres 'shredded' large plastic items and ejected the pieces.
Lead researcher Dr Marcus Eriksen, director of research at the Five Gyres Institute in Los Angeles, said: 'Our findings show that the garbage patches in the middle of the five sub-tropical gyres are not the final resting places for the world's floating plastic trash.
'The end-game for micro-plastic is interactions with entire ocean ecosystems.'
Large plastics appeared to be abundant near coastlines, the scientists found.
The amount of 'microplastic' particles on the surface of the oceans was much less than expected, suggesting that some of it was being removed.
Removal processes included degradation by sunlight, biodegradation, loss of buoyancy, entanglement with settling detritus, beaching, and ingestion by fish and other organisms.
Writing in the online journal Plos One, the scientists concluded: 'This is the first study that compares all sizes of floating plastic in the world's oceans from the largest items to small microplastics.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/11/23F88BBB00000578-2868708-image-a-2_1418303138023.jpg
Although the birds live on Midway Atoll in the north Pacific, 2,000 miles from any substantial land, their isolation doesn't save them from the global problem. The Laysan Albatrosses nesting there mistake the floating plastic for food and bring it back for their chicks who die eating it (pictured)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F60E00000578-2868708-The_total_weight_of_all_the_plastic_pollution_in_t he_seas_stock_-a-1_1418231583350.jpg
The total weight of all the plastic pollution in the seas (stock image) is estimated to be almost 269,000 tonnes. An international team of scientists made the calculation after gathering data from 24 expeditions mounted over a period of six years between 2007 and 2013
'Plastics of all sizes were found in all ocean regions, converging in accumulation zones in the sub-tropical gyres, including southern hemisphere gyres where coastal population density is much lower than in the northern hemisphere.'
Albatrosses on remote pacific islands have been found to be ingesting so much plastic that their stomachs become full and they die. The sharp foreign objects also lacerate their gut walls.
Elsewhere, the bodies of sea turtles are being found with stomachs full of plastic, because they are prone to mistaking bags for jellyfish.
The plastic can block the digestive tract, leading to a slow death from starvation.
It was recently estimated that 90 per cent of seabirds found dead on beaches have ingested plastic.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F61500000578-2868708-The_amount_of_plastic_on_the_surface_of_the_oceans _was_much_less-a-2_1418231737535.jpg
The amount of plastic on the surface of the oceans was much less than expected, suggesting that some of it is being removed. Removal processes included degradation by sunlight, biodegradation, loss of buoyancy, entanglement with settling detritus, beaching, and ingestion by fish and other organisms
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/10/23F1F62400000578-0-Elsewhere_the_bodies_of_sea_turtles_are_being_foun d_with_stomach-a-67_1418227525827.jpg
Elsewhere, the bodies of sea turtles are being found with stomachs full of plastic, (plastic taken from the gut of a sea turtle corpse is pictured) because they are prone to mistaking bags for jellyfish. The plastic can block the digestive tract, leading to a slow death from starvation
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2868708/More-five-TRILLION-pieces-plastic-litter-seas-oceans.html#ixzz3LcyyZNJZ