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There are several nonprofits working to remove floating plastic from the Great Pacific Patch. The largest Ocean Cleanup Foundation in the Netherlands has developed a net specifically to collect and concentrate marine litter as it is pulled across the sea surface by winds and currents. When the net is full, a ship brings its contents ashore for proper disposal.
Dr. Helm and other scientists warn that such nets threaten marine life, including Neuston. While adjustments have been made to the design of the net to reduce side catch, Dr. Helm believes large-scale removal of plastic from the patch could pose a threat to Neuston residents.
“When it comes to figuring out what to do about the plastic that’s already in the ocean, I think we need to be really careful,” he said. The results of his study “highlight the need to really work before trying to manipulate, alter, clean up, or extract minerals from the open ocean.”
Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer with the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, Dr. He didn’t agree with Helm.
“It’s too early to come to any conclusions about how we should respond to this study,” he said. “You have to take into account the effects of plastic pollution on other species. With our system, we collect several tons of plastic every week – plastic that impacts the environment.”
Plastic in the oceans is a threat to marine life and kills more than a million seabirds each year. 100,000 Marine mammals according to UNESCO. Everything from fish to whales can get tangled, and animals often mistake it for food and starve to death with their stomachs full of plastic.
Ocean plastics that don’t suffocate an albatross or get entangled in a sea elephant eventually break down into microplastics, which permeate every branch of the food web and are nearly impossible to remove from the environment.
One thing everyone agrees on is that we need to stop the flow of plastic into the ocean.
“We have to turn off the tap,” said Mr. Lecomte.
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