Ocean currents that carry huge amounts of trash in the Pacific Ocean contain an abundance of marine life, a study released Thursday found.
The research, conducted by researchers at Georgetown University in Washington and published in the journal PLoS Biology, looked at the concentration of organisms in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a huge floating debris-covered clump.
Scientists have discovered that there is a correlation between the presence of plastic and the abundance of species such as sailboats or sea snails.
These discoveries lead researchers to risk that the same currents that promote the accumulation of garbage in different parts of the ocean are essential for the development of some floating organismsthat take advantage of these to feed and procreate.
The “Pacific patch” is located in the middle of the largest water vortex in the world, known as the North Pacific Gyre (NPG), formed by four ocean currents and considered the largest ecosystem on the planet.
To carry out their investigations, the scientists took advantage of the passage of a boat through the NPG, after an 80-day swimming expedition. The team took daily samples from the eastern part of the vortex and found that the concentration of sea creatures was higher in the center than in the periphery.
“The ‘garbage patch’ is more than a garbage patch. It’s an ecosystem, not because of plastic, but in spite of it,” lead study author Rebecca Helm said in a statement.
The researchers hope their work will prompt offshore companies to consider their impact on sea surface ecosystems.
Source: Observadora
