A non-profit organization has scraped more than 40 tons of fishing nets and consumer plastics from a region of the Pacific Ocean that’s home to a massive debris field known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The haul includes everything from beer bottles and children’s toys to enormous ‘ghost nets’ – the abandoned fishing gear that can drift at sea for decades, trapping more garbage and marine wildlife in its path.
After a 25-day clean-up mission, Ocean Voyages says it captured thousands of pounds of plastic waste, including a five-ton ghost net.
The group plans to return next year to continue work at the site over a three-month period.
Ocean Voyages conducted drone surveys in the Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone – also known as the Pacific Gyre – between California and Hawaii to assess the debris ahead of recovery.
The team also recruited yachts and ships to tag ghost nets with satellite trackers.
‘Satellite technology played a key role in our recovery effort, offering an innovative solution to finding areas of dense plastic pollution,’ said Mary Crowley, Founder and Executive Director of OV Institute.
‘The nets and other debris are signs of the proliferating plastic pollution that poses threats to marine life, coastal environments, shipping, fisheries, wildlife and our health.’
Read the rest and see the pics here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7201755/Ocean-cleanup-effort-drags-5-TON-ghost-net-Pacific-Ocean-Garbage-Patch.html
I clicked on the link to see the photos. WOW! What a disgusting mess! Glad they got it out of the ocean.
My question is, What are they going to do with it? Landfill? The story didn’t address that problem.
Any word of when it gets sent to China to be “recycled”?