Plastic Island - Man's contribution to the oceans

[Granfalloon]

When a friend of mine first mentioned this it didn't surprise me in a way, but what are the long term consequences? It truly frustrates me that there are people so careless out there, but think about it. All those "tourists" on cruise ships throwing their trash over the side, and possibly commercial businesses being the bigger of many evils in this sordid truth.

http://www.earth-stream.com/outpage.php?s=18&id=189239

"The vortex of currents which pushes the debris together is known as the North Pacific Gyre."

- and -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"To beachcombers in the know, Gore Point was a happy hunting ground, one of the best places in Alaska to find exotic oddities. To Pallister, it was a paradise lost. Now, subsidized by a $115,000 matching grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.), he had embarked upon a possibly quixotic mission to regain it."

 

[Drachir]

When a friend of mine first mentioned this it didn't surprise me in a way, but what are the long term consequences? It truly frustrates me that there are people so careless out there, but think about it. All those "tourists" on cruise ships throwing their trash over the side, and possibly commercial businesses being the bigger of many evils in this sordid truth.

http://www.earth-stream.com/outpage.php?s=18&id=189239

"The vortex of currents which pushes the debris together is known as the North Pacific Gyre."

- and -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"To beachcombers in the know, Gore Point was a happy hunting ground, one of the best places in Alaska to find exotic oddities. To Pallister, it was a paradise lost. Now, subsidized by a $115,000 matching grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.), he had embarked upon a possibly quixotic mission to regain it."

You may be a bit hard on cruise ships. I have been on three and there are strict rules against throwing anything overboard. The cruise industry in general is pretty clean I suspect you have to look elsewhere for most of the garbage, including that which is washed down rivers and ends up in the ocean as well as that coming off freighters and fishing vessels which are much more numerous than cruise ships.