What a load of rubbish!

[naiad]

Apparently there is a floating rubbish collection in the Pacific which covers an area bigger than Australia.
Pacific 'rubbish superhighway' going unnoticed - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[penguinator]

My goodness thats terrible.

How long until someone starts offering dive tours?

 

[island_sands]

good one lucia, putting that one up :yack

 

[naiad]

I see the article made it to the DB news. Thanks Sara for putting it up.

 

[fjohnson]

should almost be visible with google earth..

 

[island_sands]

How updated would Google Earth be?

 

[Pastor]

I think it varies, some of it is quite fresh but most of it is years old

 

[ocean_314]

This not a bad thing it provides cover for small fish and other life. I bet there is more life under all that rubish then then in any are of the clean open ocean. We also need more offshore oil wells you wouldnt believe the life that thrive around those rigs. Cover=Life

 

[bgill]

Years ago when I was in the Navy we used to dump ALL of our trash off the "fantail" of the ship - This is no longer a U.S. Navy practice...But I was ashamed that it was back then...

However it WAS fun shooting at the bags with a .50 cal. to get them to sink! We used EXPIRED ammo...All lead and copper...Probably also not a good thing for the water or the life in it.

I beleive it is ALL incinerated now and even the toxic smoke is filtered in some way...Not sure of this though...All that was JUST changing when I got out. I do know for sure some countries navy's still dump their garbage right off of the ship and into the ocean...Plastic and all. :vangry:naughty

 

[naiad]

A video about the effects of plastic on marine life.
YouTube - Synthetic Sea - Plastic in the open Ocean

And an animation of how the plastic travels around.
Greenpeace | Pacific trash vortex showing drift of ocean pollution.