Plastic in the Plankton 

THE OSGOOD FILE / CBS Radio Network 24dec02

Plastic in the North Pacific outnumbers zooplankton, causing concern for scientists.

Whether it's a plastic sandwich bag that blew away during a picnic at the beach or a load of plastic lighters dropped by a ship, plastic doesn't just disappear in the ocean. It may end up in a bird's belly … and possibly even your own. Plastic in the Pacific Ocean is an enormous problem – and not just for marine life. There is now six times more plastic debris in part of the North Pacific Ocean than zooplankton the populous animal plankton that forms the base of the aquatic food chain.

Charles Moore, captain of the private research vessel Alguita
Photo: RICK RICKMAN—MATRIX FOR USN&WR

According to the nonprofit Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, California, tens of thousands of mammals and birds swallow the plastic. The plastic is dumped from countries worldwide, lost by ships or washed out to sea from urban areas. Furthermore, plastic becomes a "toxic sponge," soaking up pollutants in the water. Charles Moore, founder of Algalita Marine Research Foundation, says the ultimate concern is that humans could wind up consuming the plastic – and its absorbed pollutants – as it makes its way up the food chain.

Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and marine debris expert in Seattle, says one pound of plastic turns into 100,000 small pieces of plastic if left in the ocean. While oil spills get more attention as an environmental threat, he says plastic is a far more serious danger to the ocean's health. Oil is harmful but eventually biodegrades, while plastic remains forever, he says. Half of beach debris worldwide is plastic and its impact on the food chain is undetermined, Ebbesmeyer says. Not much is known about the effect of plastic consumption on marine life like jellyfish and fish. Plastic doesn't biodegrade, it just gets broken into smaller pieces resembling zooplankton. The plastic is eaten by jellyfish, which are then eaten by fish. In addition to substituting for actual nutrients, plastic also chemically attracts hydrocarbon pollutants found in the ocean like PCBs and DDT. Moore says pollutants accumulate in plastic up to one million times more than in ocean water.

In 1999, Moore set out to look for plastic debris, large and small, in the North Pacific gyre, a 10 million square mile area with circular surface currents that draw debris to the middle. He focused on a 500-square-mile area at the center of the region's vortex halfway between San Francisco and Hawaii. Surprisingly, he found six times more plastic than zooplankton. After a recent research trip this fall, he says the mass of plastic has increased to 10 pounds of plastic to one pound of zooplankton. But plastic debris is hardly limited to the North Pacific gyre. Moore says in waters off Los Angeles, there is 2.5 pounds of plastic for every pound of plankton. "The ocean uses what she can get. She grinds it up and feeds it to her critters," Ebbesmeyer says. "Picking up one thing off the beach makes a big difference…People think it disappears, but in the ocean, it goes someplace else."

CONTACTS
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer: Oceanographer Seattle, WA Phone: (206) 526-5622
Charles Moore: Founder Algalita Marine Research Foundation 345 Bay Shore Ave. Long Beach, CA 90803 Phone: (562) 433-2361