Science Results : Daily Update

Daily Update | Current SEA Research

July 1, 2010

By Skye Morét-Ferguson

On this trip our primary focus is exploring the quantities, forms, and biological communities found on open-ocean microplastic debris. Microplastics on this trip are defined by size – any piece caught in our nets whose longest edge is between 0.335 and 5 millimeters.

A secondary focus on this trip is macroplastics, or the larger pieces that we can see from the deck of the ship. We catalog these items in two different ways. One way is quantitative: a standard hourly 5-minute observation similar to bird surveys where we categorize the pieces we see (if any) into size ranges (less than 10 cm, 10-50 cm, and greater than 50 cm) and how far they are from the ship. This standardized protocol allows us consistent observations at regular intervals and takes some of the error out of having different plastic observers for each hour of the day.

The alternate way to catalog macroplastics is to record every time anyone sights plastic from the deck. This is often more exciting! We record what the object is and our current GPS position – mainly for a qualitative outlook on all of the wild and diverse plastic items floating out here.

Items that we have seen include a toilet seat, white plastic bags, oil jugs, a bread bag fastener, Styrofoam cups, shoes and foot insoles, an old plastic loofah, plastic fencing material, and containers such as sunscreen and liquor bottles. Items that seem to originate from the fishing industry include large masses of polypropylene line – some with strobe lights attached, bait bags, countless fishing buoys, and every color and size of bucket.

As we continue to document the larger items seen from the deck, I can't help but ponder by what mode each piece made the journey to this vast center of the ocean. I imagine the micro- and macro-biological communities growing on each of them, their incredibly large surface area that attracts persistent organic pollutants, and their fate as they persist for decades to come.

From land it is easy to consider this problem to be out of sight and out of mind. From the center of the Atlantic it is startling to realize that because plastic pollution is so widespread, if you looked into the ocean long enough it would be possible to see every object you could imagine.