Pacific Ocean’s Garbage Patch Bigger Than Previously Believed, Ticking Bomb?

The huge patch of garbage floating and accumulating in the Pacific Ocean is on a much higher scale than what researchers estimated previously. According to a recent aerial survey, the debris comprising of plastic containers, fishing nets and other discarded items takes up a much vaster space in the ocean.

The survey was conducted on a modified C-130 Hercules aircraft, the details of which said that the plastic waste accumulation at the northern edge of the ocean between California and Hawaii, referred to as the "great Pacific garbage patch", covers an area of about 386,000 sq miles, with the boundary spanning a further periphery spanning a further 1,351,000 sq miles.

"Normally when you do an aerial survey of dolphins or whales, you make a sighting and record it," said Boyan Slat, founder of Ocean Cleanup, an initiative to get rid of plastics in the ocean. "But then we opened the door and we saw the debris everywhere. Every half second you see something. So we had to take snapshots - it was impossible to record everything. It was bizarre to see that much garbage in what should be pristine ocean."

Furthermore, the waste is continuously morphing due to the huge rotating currents of the ocean. The heap of plastic rubbish is gradually being broken down to micro plastics that can become fish food and enter the food chain. According to the experts, the great Pacific garbage patch is a ticking bomb because all the bigger waste elements will break down to micro sizes in the next few decades.

A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that there would be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, if urgent actions and measures are not implemented now itself. As per the UN environmental program, the great Pacific garbage patch is increasing in dimension so fast that it is becoming visible from space, just like the Great Wall of China.