Mar 04 2008
A Little Q&A With The Director of Operations at Algalita
We emailed Algalita for some more details and confirmation on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s existence and here’s the explanation we received from Marieta Francis, the Director of Operations at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation:
“Thank you for contacting us. Yes, there is an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean referred to as a “Garbage Patch”. The accumulation of plastic and debris in this area has been researched by our foundation since 1999. You can find information about it on our website - www.algalita.org - both in the Research section and also in the 2008 Gyre Voyage blog on the home page.
It is not something that can be cleaned up. In fact, most of the debris is small and spread out over the surface of the ocean.
We have images of the debris under water, and groups we put together for tagging on the surface. You need to understand that the ocean is a liquid medium, and objects do not pile up on top of it, rather, they become submerged. While we do see buoys, television tubes and soap bottles, etc, they are not piled up in a group for photographing. The majority of the debris consists of small plastic fragments and broken objects just below the surface, which are obscured by surface wavelets when observed from any angle but directly above.
The concept of a “trash island” to describe this phenomenon was originally coined by Pravda and picked up by other European media, who showed an artists drawing of a mountain of trash. This is not an accurate depiction. The enormous accumulation zones for plastic debris are better described as “trash vortexes,” and except for fishing buoys do not appear above the ocean surface. They are also referred to as the “Eastern and Western Garbage Patches,” although we prefer vortex because the word “patch” does not do justice to their more or less million square mile size.”
–
Wow. Let us repeat that very last little bit: “More or less million square mile size.”
And regarding the official word on cleanup: “It is not something that can be cleaned up” - we’re still not convinced it can’t be cleaned up. With enough money and motivation, there has to be a solution out there and we will do our best to help find it.
