The Center Of The South Pacific Gyre: Scooping Plastic Trash
By Anna Cummins on April 06, 2011
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Noontime position: 29 27.36 South, 99 09.04 West
Yesterday we hit the center mark on our map, the “center” of the roughly 700 square mile accumulation zone. Perhaps coincidence, as the center mark in a fluid, shifting system is somewhat arbitrary, but yesterday was also our busiest day yet pulling plastic trash from the South Pacific Gyre. And both our manta and our high-speed trawls visibly contain more plastic – the most dense of this entire trip.
Our trash sightings began after the morning’s “circuit training”, a new daily workout routine that Captain Clive started up to combat the inevitable sloth of life on a boat without oexercise. For half an hour, we run around the boat doing pushups, squats, bicycle situps, shadow boxing, and dips, while doing our best to maintain balance. Highly entertaining…..catching our breath, we saw the first yellow bucket. Followed by a red crate, a massive green ghost net, a white bottle cap, aquamarine bucket, and several smaller ropes that floated just beyond reach. A veritable rainbow of plastic debris.
The crew now has the trash-fishing routine down: pull up the trawl, pull in the main sail, grab the boat hook and dip nets, and assign a designated “spotter” to keep an eye and a pointed finger on the plastic offender at all times. Maintaining eye contact on a small item in a vast ocean churning with powerful currents gives new meaning to a “needle in a haystack”.
We’re now 4 days from Easter Island, motor-sailing through the accumulation zone. For the past few weeks, crew have all been pleasantly surprised to witness, anecdotally for now, less plastic in this gyre than in the others. The last few days however remind us that this ocean is not, unfortunately free of plastic. It’s definitely out here. It’s everywhere. And no amount of trawling, skimming, or sieving will remove it.
Solutions begin on land, with legislation that reduces our single use plastic habits and sets meaningful target reductions for municipal waste, with enlightened companies that embrace cradle to cradle design and extended producer responsibility, and with each and every of us, demanding these changes and taking responsibility in our own lives. Are you part of the solution?
The Plastic Promise
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Tags
Plastic Pollution South Atlantic Gyre Ban The Bag Marine Debris Conference South Pacific Gyre South Pacific Garbage Patch Maximenko
