Question

Discuss the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. What was the original cause and effect problem and now how do we solve this damaging problem to the ocean environment?

Note: at least a good 4 paragraphs

Answer 1

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a circulating system of pollutants found in the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of the five zones in oceans globally where plastics discarded from the land get accumulated in the middle of the ocean through ocean currents in the tropical and subtropical latitudes.  The patch extends from the west coast of North America to Japan via Hawaii. The plastics are set in motion through the currents before eventually reaching the center of the oceanic circulatory system or the North Pacific Ocean Gyre.

The plastics arrive in the Pacific Ocean through terrestrial and shipping activities which discharge non-biodegradable materials. The major sources of such pollutants are continents like North America and Asia. The increased usage of plastics due to urbanization and industrialization has caused the dumping of massive amounts of plastics in the seawater.

With a greater influx of plastics in the oceans, the marine ecosystem is at risk. The floating plastics dissociate under the Sun to form microplastics which reduce the amount of sunlight needed for photosynthesis carried out by phytoplankton. The decrease in the population of plants (which are at the base of the food chain) can disturb the entire food web. Environmentally damaging chemicals such as PCB are absorbed by plastics which get ingested by the fishes and eventually intrude the food chain.

There are ways to reduce the plastic pollution in global oceans such as replacing non-biodegradable materials with the biodegradable ones, putting an end to the usage of single-use plastic, creating awareness through educational outreach, and recycling the trash under seawater such as fishing nets to produce new products such as clothing.