Great Pacific Garbage Patch Research Paper

I always thought that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, commonly known as Garbage Island, was a huge, waterborne landfill—sort of like a massive hair clog in a big drain, spinning round and round. In reality, it's not so much an island of trash as a soupy area of litter, mostly in the form of tiny flecks of plastic, studded here and there with old fishing gear and children's toys. If you were to sail right through the Patch, the water itself probably wouldn't look too remarkable, unless you scooped some up and looked at it closely. Now, this does not mean that the issue is lessened in the slightest; It may even be worse. Everyone needs to come to a distinct agreement on cleaning up the marine environment and getting rid of the Garbage Patch.
The impact on the ocean ecosystem health and on marine animals is tremendous. Turtles, birds, fish, and other animals can mistake plastic for something edible and feed it to their young most often resulting in death. Sea turtles in particular …show more content…
All of the debris in this area is from human use, disposal, littering, dumping, etc. Most of the plastic actually comes from land and not ships, as some might assume. In fact, only about twenty percent of oceanic waste comes from ships. The main sources are manufacturing products, management of trash, and improper waste disposal (EPA, 2011). Through air and sea currents, any plastic item can become litter and eventually end up in the patch region. Plastic bags, often found in stores of every kind, are likely to being swept away by wind or water. This item is also very dangerous to marine animals. Plastics and very strong and stay together for a very long period of time. While they may photodegrade under sunlight, they do not ever break up by themselves. Because it floats, is easily transported by currents, and persists for so long in the environment, plastic marine debris has the greatest potential to change the environment and impact marine and human