A new floating island has been discovered between Hawaii and California! It’s three times the size of France and growing by the second. However, getting there is a problem because landing might be a bit difficult, considering the so-called “island” is fully composed of trash. Human irresponsibility has changed the topography of Earth’s oceans.  

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is not just a giant conglomerate of water bottles, nets, straws or bags, but mainly comprises miniscule pieces of plastic, so small that they're undetectable to satellite cameras and easily missed by people traveling over the water. Even worse, a majority of the trash sinks to the ocean floor. The GPGP is virtually a huge plastic iceberg. How did all the plastic end up there? The two centripetal currents, called gyres in the Pacific, act as a giant whirlpool which pushes all of the marine debris into the center. This, in tandem with the 24 billion pounds of plastic that is dumped into the oceans every year, and the fact that “most plastics take almost 1000 years to decompose” (Schoelle), is how the GPGP has formed and is constantly growing. This immense marine landfill is changing the lives of everybody who encounters it, from animals to the fishers to you. 

The most direct impact the GPGP has is on marine organisms. From its accidental consumption by ocean dwellers, to its entrapment of marine creatures, to its transportation of invasive species,  plastic in the oceans leads to a whole chain of environmental problems.For example, the albatross, a large, white, ocean-dwelling bird, is threatened by the immense amount of trash in the ocean. Midway, the island where albatross come to mate and raise their offspring, is in the middle of the patch and “is littered with bird skeletons that have brightly colored plastic protruding from their decomposing bellies” (Jones). They are mistaking pieces of trash for food, filling their stomachs with plastic instead of nutritious fish. These plastics either fill their stomachs so much that they can’t fit any food or the “Sharp plastic pieces…perforate their intestines and esophagus”(Jones). Plastic pollution along with loss of habitat is causing a dangerous decline in their population. This is also the case for many other species. For example, sea turtles, seals, and fish often get caught up in nets or old fishing lines, falling victim to “ghost fishing.” “World Animal Protection highlights that around 640,000 tons of gear is discarded annually, resulting in at least 136,000 seals, sea lions and large whales being killed each year”(McCormick).

The isle of trash poses another great threat to marine ecosystems. The long-lasting characteristic of plastic has made it able to survive the turgor of the ocean for decades upon decades and gives it the ability to travel “3000 km from [its] source”(Beaumont). However, this means that “plastic provides a mechanism for movement of organisms between biomes, thus potentially increasing their biogeographical range and risking the spread of invasive species and disease”(Beaumont). Invasive species have the potential to compete with native species for resources, thus changing the entire ecosystem. The detrimental effects of invasive species can be seen in Florida’s water where lionfish have outcompeted parrotfish, which perform the vital task of eating algae off of coral. Without the parrotfish, algae has overrun the coral, killing it. Trash in the GPGP has the potential to bring non-native species, which can topple the ecosystem. This is already being seen as a group of scientists recently found “hundreds of coastal Japanese marine species … on items that landed on the shores of the North American Pacific coast and the Hawaiian Islands”(Gill) when analyzing the composition of the patch. This can become detrimental not just for the environment, but for humans as well, because we rely on the ocean for many of our resources, such as fishing. 

In addition to these animals dying, how do plastics in the sea  affect humans, even thousands and thousands of miles away? 

The far-reaching effects occur because of bioaccumulation, which is when “microplastics accumulate within organisms and make their way through the marine food chain” (Schoelle). A sardine is swimming along and sees a nice piece of food floating in the water. Little does it know that it is not in fact food, but a piece of plastic. The sardine eats the plastic and swims happily along until a huge blue-fin tuna gulps down the plastic-filled sardine in one go. The tuna swims happily along until a shark takes a bite out of its belly. While animals higher in the food chain may not ingest plastic and all their toxic chemicals directly, plastic makes its way and accumulates through the food chain. Now, instead of the shark eating the tuna, the tuna gulps a baited hook and is dragged out of the water, all the way to the seafood section in Costco. Humans are potentially put at risk because “several chemicals used in the production of plastic materials are known to be carcinogenic and to interfere with the body’s endocrine system, causing developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune disorders in both humans and wildlife” (IUCN). Now, don’t cut seafood out of your diet, because plastic contamination of seafood has not been proven to be a widespread problem--yet. 

The human economy is also affected by the GPGP. Many areas near the patch, such as Hawaii and California, have economies that rely on coastal tourism. Come to Hawaii! Walk the white sand beaches covered in seashells and trash, or swim with the sea turtles and plastic bottles. Tourists won’t want to come to trash infested-beaches and waters because of the lack of aesthetic appeal and risk of health effects, thus decreasing the revenue coastal cities get from tourism. Furthermore, these cities try to get rid of the trash through government-funded cleanups, which “generates major economic costs related to the cleaning and maintenance of the sites”(IUCN). The decrease in marine biodiversity of the area can also adversely affect tourism. Who wants to see a rotting albatross, with a belly full of plastic water bottles and bags, lying on the beach? Who would enjoy snorkeling with green sea turtles with six-pack rings around their necks? 

It isn’t just tourism that loses money, thanks to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but also the fishing industry. Debris in the patch has caused extensive damage to fishing equipment and boats. For example, “fishers have to repair or replace nets and other gear damaged by marine plastic, and they have to fix boats with fouled propellers and rudders and blocked engine intake pipes” (Carr). Having to spend money and time to fix broken equipment means less time to fish, which, accompanied by the fact that the patch has decreased the population of fish, leads to smaller hauls of fish. Less fish with the same or greater demand for it? That equals an increase in price for seafood.

While many of the effects of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are negative, many people have realized the magnitude of its destructive influence, which has led to efforts to clean the ocean of trash. Organizations such as Ocean Clean Up are developing ways to remove the trash. For example, Ocean Clean up has built a u-shaped net called the “Jenny” that “catches large and small debris from the seawater in a funnel-shaped net”(Wetzel). This net pulled about 20,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. However, this number is dwarfed by the 24 billion pounds of plastic that is dumped into the ocean each year, so “most researchers agree efforts should also be put toward preventing plastic from entering the ocean in the first place”(Wetzel). Reducing plastic use around the world is a problem that has to be fought from all fronts. It can start from the individual, such as using less single use plastics, all the way to the government implementing laws and regulations to prevent trash from entering the ocean in the first place.