Scientists confirm widespread plastic pollution in parts of Caribbean Sea

WOODS HOLE, Massachusetts, CMC – Scientists have confirmed widespread plastic pollution across areas of the Caribbean and the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

“It is the most extensive description of plastic in the North Atlantic Ocean,” said Kara Lavender Law, a physical oceanographer at the Sea Education Association and lead author of the study.

She said the plastic in question is swirling around a vortex of ocean currents called the North Atlantic Gyre and is comparable in size to the better-known  “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”.  The Sea Education Association has monitored the Western Atlantic for 22 years.

Law said following annually-repeated cruise tracks, the sea surface has been routinely sampled for plastic and other debris using towed nets.

After 6,100 tows, and using computer simulations to model the ocean circulation, she said researchers have shown the plastic piles up where wind-driven surface currents converge.

“The plastic is following the physical currents,” and it accumulates in the North Atlantic Gyre,” she said.

Law said when exposed to UV light and to the physical environment – including wave action, surface winds and currents – the plastic rubbish breaks down.

She said the only remains are tiny pieces, bearing no resemblance to the bags, boots and bottles they started out as.

Law said researchers found the plastic by picking through trawl samples and sorting the tiny plastic particles manually.

With plastic already accounting for 80 per cent of marine debris, she said it might be expected that plastic pollution in the ocean gyres would increase as usage and disposal increased.

“Firstly we only sample the surface ocean. This does not account for any plastic that may have been driven down by strong winds deeper into the mixed layer,” Laws said.

“Secondly, although we use fine nets, some microscopic plastic particles may slip through,” she added.

Law said the team of researchers has also found some marine organisms, including small invertebrates, using the plastic as a substrate which would increase the density and make the naturally buoyant plastic sink still further.