Scientists have found thriving communities of coastal creatures on plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 620,000 square mile swirl of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii.
Scientists have found thriving communities of coastal creatures on plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 620,000 square mile swirl of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii.
Plastic pollution in the ocean might be enabling the creation of new floating ecosystems of species that are not normally able to survive in the open ocean.
Plastic pollution in the ocean might be enabling the creation of new floating ecosystems of species that are not normally able to survive in the open ocean.
The majority of the plastic found in the patch comes from the fishing industry, while between 10% and 20% of the total volume can be traced back to the 2011 Japanese tsunami.