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Ocean garbage patches not growing, so where is all that plastic going?

Posted by: Maven on August 20, 2010 at 8:36 am

From Scientific American:

“Researchers have been visiting locations in the western North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea for more than two decades to better understand the large patches of plastic that have formed there. Although the mysteries surrounding exactly how the plastic gets to these locations, where it comes from and what impact it’s having on marine life remain unanswered, a team of scientists has now published perhaps the most analytical study of the patches to date based on data collected by research vessels over a 22-year period, between 1986 and 2008.

The researchers from Sea Education Association (SEA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Hawaii (UH) found, among other things, that the amount of plastic picked up by the researchers’ nets remained pretty stable over the years, despite society’s increased production and consumption of plastic, according to research published in Thursday’s issue of Science Express. … “

Continue reading from the Scientific American by clicking here.

August 20, 2010 · Filed Under Oceans & Beaches

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