Great Garbage Patch Island http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/

North Pacific Subtropical Gyre A gyre is any manner of swirling vortex, particularly large-scale wind and ocean currents. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect The North Pacific Gyre has a clockwise circular pattern An accumulation of man-made marine debris known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is collecting in the gyre.

Facts about the Gyre The circulation is slow The area is an Oceanic Desert, filled with phytoplankton but very few large fish or mammals inhabit the area Since there are few fish, there are also few fishermen & sailors There are actually two areas of accumulating debris – the Western Pacific Garbage Patch and the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch which sometimes join to form the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

This Laysan Albatross chick has been accidentally fed plastic by its parents and died as a result.

Albatross Carcass Bottle caps and other plastic objects are visible inside the decomposed carcass of this Laysan albatross on Kure Atoll, which lies in a remote and virtually uninhabited region of the North Pacific. The bird probably mistook the plastics for food and ingested them while foraging for prey.

North Pacific Gyre A 1990 Running shoes spill B 2002 Garbage strip C 2000 Plastic bag spill D Shoes found F Eastern Garbage Patch At the eye of the gyre, plastic reaches concentrations of a million pieces per square mile. Researchers have mapped a giant spill of bags and a mile-long strip of wind-driven garbage. G Caught in a gyre Some of the plastic drifting in the North Pacific is swept to shore, like the thousands of Nike shoes that washed up in the Pacific Northwest. But much is trapped by calm winds and sluggish water within the North Pacific's loop of currents

Eastern Garbage Patch Floats between Hawaii and California Twice as big as Texas Can be as deep as 30 meters text 8

Oceans of Garbage http://www.vestaldesign.com/blog/2006/08/oceans-of-garbage.html

Trash Monster!! Artist: Keary Sorenson Beach litter collected October-March 2003 Fort Ross to Rodeo Beach, California Jennifer Stock, education and outreach specialist from Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary displays the Trash Monster! Artist: Keary Sorenson

Facts about Plastic in the Gyre (Algalita Marine Research Foundation) 6 lbs of plastic for each pound of surface zooplankton in the North Pacific central Gyre Plastic does not biodegrade; it’s broken down by sunlight into smaller pieces

Algalita Marine Research Foundation Charles Moore from AMRF first published an article about this global conservation issue in the November 2003 issue of the journal Natural History. The dominant feature in the North Pacific Ocean is the North Pacific Gyre, a large water mass that is rotating in a clockwise direction and can trap debris originating from across the Pacific; floating debris accumulates in the “eastern garbage patch”, an area the size of Texas; there is an estimated ½ lb. of plastic for every 100 m2 of sea surface in this area of marine debris concentration. “Eastern garbage patch” Learn more about studies of the Eastern / Western garbage patches conducted by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation http://www.alguita.com/

How does plastic get into the sea? 1. Littering by beachgoers 2. Run-off from land e.g. rivers and storm drains 3. Direct dumping into the ocean About 80% of marine debris is from sources on land. We all share the responsibility for keeping litter, especially plastic litter, from going into the ocean. 4. Accidental loss from ships

90% of floating marine debris is plastic 2.5 cm 1 inch Marine debris contains many different types of plastic products: Left photo shows children’s toys; right photo shows plastic pieces and chips of various sizes, plastic bottle caps; hard plastic tubing, fishing floats Photos: Kathy Cousins / Irene Kinan

Where is marine debris found ? everywhere - both marine and coastal environments floating water column on the seabed on beaches and shores (http://www.marine-litter.gpa.unep.org) Marine debris is found throughout the ocean and follows many fates.

This is a photo of the contents of a dissected bolus This is a photo of the contents of a dissected bolus. How many plastic items can you identify? Photo: C. Vanderlip

Plastic ingestion What makes seabirds vulnerable? Another less conspicuous impact of marine debris is plastic ingestion. Seabirds eat plastic. This is a photo of a dead albatross chick with a stomach full of plastic debris – note the amount of bottle caps, the comb, and the toy car wheel. Photo: Cynthia Vanderlip

Acknowledgements & Credits Primary author: Carol Keiper, Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge This presentation is adapted from presentations funded by the California Coastal Commission’s Whale Tail Grant Program Contributing authors: Dr. David Hyrenbach, PhD, Duke University; Hannah Nevins & Michelle Hester, Oikonos-Ecosystem Knowledge; Cheryl Baduini, PhD, Claremont Colleges; Josh Adams, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories & USGS Jennifer Stock, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary; William Henry, University of California Santa Cruz; Captain Charles Moore, Algalita Marine Research Foundation Funding for Black-footed Albatross conservation research provided by National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Photos and Slides: P.Pyle, B.Saenz, B.Henry, S.Webb, D.Hyrenbach, M.Danzenbacher, J.Stock, H. Nevins, J. Adams, J. Harvey, C Vanderlip K.Cousins, I. Kinan, Myra Finkelstein

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