Athena

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the bigger pieces of trash in an ocean area twice the size of Texas, in the north Pacific gyre, 1.000 miles off the California coast. Much of this confetti-like plastic debris is coming off the land. They are accumulated in this area because of the ocean and wind currents that wash off pretty much everything of North America and the east coast. There are also some fishing debris such as lines and floats that have been abandoned in this huge area.

Image Credit:Naked Man in the Tree

The team found that the debris are much more and denser, than they expected. They collected thousands of pieces of all kind and size of plastic. Among the assortment of items retrieved were plastic bottles with a variety of biological inhabitants. The scientists also collected jellyfish called by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella). They recovered several plastic bottles covered with ocean animals, including large barnacles as well as, several fish to test whether toxic chemicals that are released by plastic, such as PCBs, can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals and marine life.

Sources and further reading: Science Blogs, Mercury News