P4: impacts on the oceans

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

Once plastic ends up in the marine ecosystem it ends up accumulating in garbage patches as a result of ocean gyres. For example the great pacific garbage patch is a hotspot for plastic accumalation. Here, at least 79 thousand tonnes of ocean plastic are floating in an area of 1.6 million km2, making it the largest garbage patch in the world (Lebraton, 2018)

Question 2

Composition Statistics

Answer 2

More than 75% of the mass is macroplastics (e.g. crates, bottles) and at least 46% was comprised of fishing nets. The rest is made up of mesoplastics (e.g. bottle caps) and microplastics which accounted for 8% of the total mass but 94% of the pieces (Egger 2022)

Question 3

Trawl Study

Answer 3

Study by Egger (2022) found plastic nearly 60 years old floating in the GPGP, suggesting that plastic is persistent and that there is a potential for long term harm of plastic pollution. Moreover, 2/3rds of debris were from the fishing industry, highlighting the extent of marine fishing on plastic pollution.

Question 4

Impacts

Answer 4

There are many drastic environmental impacts on wildlife from the ingestion and lack of digestion of plastic. plastics are also chemical absorbers causing the transport of many harmful chemicals such as DDT which are known endocrine distrupters