So I was reading the latest issue of my favorite surf mag that features an interview with Surfrider Foundation Executive Director Jim Moriarty and an interesting fact popped out at me within the first few paragraphs of the interview.
I have talked a lot about the North Pacific gyre and the swirling pool / blob of trash and plastic that is now estimated to be as large as the USA but what I never realized was that it is now estimated to be more photo-degraded plastic in the oceans than plankton.
This is a very disheartening and sad state of our oceans and the ramifications within the food chain may now be irreversible. Plastic is not bio-degradeble in any means, it is photo-degradeable which means that it will continue to break down into smaller and smaller pieces to where it can't be seen by the naked eye.
Fish, birds, whales, and many other sea creatures that in one way or another end up on the plates of millions of diners tables around the world have potentially mistaken this plastic for plankton...
The only answer, reduce, reuse, recycle and most importantly EDUCATE!
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