5 Gyres to cross the the South Pacific
By Anna Cummins on March 01, 2011
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RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE MOST EXTENSIVE STUDY OF OCEAN PLASTIC POLLUTION EVER UNDERTAKEN
Goal of Voyage Through Fifth of Five Gyres is to Bring Attention to Global Problem
Researchers Recently Profiled
on Voice Of America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Zan Dubin Scott: (310) 383-0956
Media Contact:
Zan Dubin Scott: (310) 383-0956
The crew, lead by Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins of Santa Monica, CA will sail over 2,000 miles from Valdivia, Chile, zig-zagging through the South Pacific Gyre to arrive at Easter Island on April 7. Little data on plastic in this region exists. The researchers however expect to find the same kind of plastic pollution - known to harm marine life, fisheries, and possibly threaten human health - that they appear to have have found in every sample they've taken while sailing through 20,000 miles in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indian Ocean Gyres. No other such researchers have sailed through all of the world's five subtropical gyres.
5 Gyres goal is to document the problem, bring it to the world's attention and foster solutions. "We want to show that this is a global problem, and to inspire international cooperation," says Cummins, who co-founded 5 Gyres with Eriksen. "Every country in the world is contributing to the problem and thus needs to be involved actively in solutions that reduce the flow of plastic to our oceans."
Most ocean plastic pollution takes the form of tiny plastic bits resulting from degraded fishing gear or plastic waste flowing out to sea from land. Sea turtles, marine mammals, birds and fish ingest these plastic particles, potentially causing internal blockages and an increased accumulation of synthetic chemicals in their bodies. The debris may also kill seabirds and marine animals that can die of starvation, their bellies full of plastic mistaken for food. 5 Gyres is also studying whether humans are being harmed by eating fish that have ingested debris contaminated with PCBs, DDT, and other toxins.
The non-profit organization is collaborating with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Pangaea Explorations, and working the the United Nations' Safe Planet campaign. "Scientists are concerned that plastic debris in the ocean can transport toxic substances which may end up in the food chain, causing potential harm to ecosystems and human health," says Michael Stanley-Jones, public information officer for Safe Planet: the United Nations Campaign for Responsibility on Hazardous Chemicals and Wastes.
While the plastic marine debris problem is typically described as a well defined "garbage patch," plastic pollution at sea takes the form of a thin, diffuse soup. Either way, it cannot be cleaned up by any practical means, so society must stop the problem at its source, the researchers stress. They advocate improving the recyclability of plastics, legislation requiring companies to take responsibility for recovery and reuse of their products, and curbs on single-use disposable products.
5 Gyres' voyage coincides with the 5th International Marine Debris Conference, March 20-25 in Honolulu, organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
About the 5 Gyres Institute: The 5 Gyres Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to meaningful change through research and education. 5 Gyres disseminates its findings through lectures and traveling exhibits, and raises awareness of ocean plastic pollution through expeditions, including that aboard JUNKraft, the boat built in 2008 of 15,000 plastic bottles. It collaborates with Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Pangaea Explorations, which provide it with a marine laboratory and research vessel, respectively. After studying the five subtropical gyres, 5 Gyres will monitor these vortexes through continued expeditions and Traveling Trawl Program voyages, which loan research equipment to volunteer “citizen scientists."
MEDIA: HERE ARE PHOTOS OF 5 GYRES, ANNA CUMMINS, MARCUS ERKISEN AND PLASTIC OCEAN POLLUTION
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