http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:North_Pacific_Gyre_World_Map.png
- It is estimated that about 90 percent of the litter in the ocean is plastic, which is not biodegradable. There is speculation that about 80 percent of this litter actually comes from land, while only about 20 percent comes from the litter of seafaring vessels, such as cruise ships, oil platforms, and fishing boats.
- Our Earth has major oceanic currents, called "gyres." In the North Pacific, there is a major gyre that is spinning all of the debris into one area. As shown in the diagram above, the North Pacific Gyre swirls trash from Southeastern Asia and the Western coast of North America all into one area.
- Over 10,000 shipping
containers fall overboard each year, spilling their cargo into the
ocean. A lot of times, this is the result of storms. To put this in
perspective, an average "container" is about 8 feet by 40 feet. These
can carry about 58,000 pounds of cargo, which could be 10,000 shoes,
17,000 hockey gloves, or over a million pieces of Lego.
- In 1992, a shipment of rubber ducks and other bath toys were overturned in the Pacific Ocean, releasing roughly 30,000 toys into the ocean. They were soon known as the Friendly Floatees, and oceanographers and scientists began to track their paths to better understand ocean currents. Below is their path, which also helps us understand the path of some marine debris.
