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On average, 8.8 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year. The maximum amount could be closer to 14 million tonnes, about the weight of 2 million elephants.
Most plastics take hundreds of years to break down. And even in this case, they divide into very small pieces called microplastics, which will probably never be biodegraded.
The places where these microplastics travel and accumulate in the oceans have not been well understood because most studies have focused on the surface of the water.
But new research published in the journal Scientific reports revealed that microplastics accumulate as much, if not more, in deep ocean environments (between 650 and 2000 feet) and at the surface.
According to the authors of the study, this discovery demonstrates that the deposition of small plastics "extends much further and more widely in the waters, sediments and deep-sea animal communities" that scientists previously did not understand.
Microplastics in the depths of the ocean
Anela Choy, the lead author of the new study, and her team have sent remotely operated submarine vehicles to different depths of Monterey Bay, California, to examine the presence of invasive microplastics in the depths of the ocean. 39; ocean.
In this underwater canyon off the coast, the Choy group discovered microplastics, even at the greatest depth of sampling: 3,200 feet under the waves. The largest concentration of microplastics was found at depths between 650 and 2000 feet.
It should be noted that the concentration of microplastics in this area – between 12 and 15 particles per cubic meter – was on average equal to, if not greater than, that of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This stretch of water between Hawaii and California contains more than 1,800 billion pieces of floating plastic and microplastic (the equivalent of 250 debris for each person on Earth).
Choy and his colleagues stated that most of the microplastics found in Monterey Bay were made from the types of plastic typically used to make single-use packaging, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Most bottles of soda and water are made of PET.
Scientists believe that these microplastics – which usually float on the surface – make their way into the depths of the oceans by hitchhiking in the bowels of marine animals such as larvae and red crabs.
These two creatures munch plankton particles the same size as microplastics. Larvaceae are filter feeders, that is, they catch food that floats in the depths of the ocean by means of sticky filters made of mucus. Once they have absorbed what they need, they get rid of these filters, which sink to the bottom of the sea.
The study authors found PET plastic in the intestines and rejected mucus of both types of animals. It is therefore likely that microplastics get stuck in these filters and are thrown with them, sinking into the watery depths.
Larvaciens, filterfish living in the depths of the oceans (NOAA / Wikimedia Commons)
We do not know enough about the scale of the plastic problem
Previous research has revealed equally alarming amounts of plastic in unexpected places. A study conducted in 2015 estimated that there were between 15 and 51 trillion microplastics in the world's oceans, weighing up to 261,000 tons.
Earlier this year, scientists found more than 414 million garbage in barely populated islands in the Indian Ocean. In February, researchers found plastic in the bowels of tiny animals living in the darkest and deepest part of the Pacific at an altitude of 50 meters.
Microplastics are not a problem for marine life. According to the Smithsonian Institute, they end up in the foods we eat and the drinks we drink, or even in our poop.
Much of the fish and seafood we eat in these microplastics and, although scientists do not yet know all the consequences that they imply for human health, a study conducted in 2013 found that animals mariners can accumulate potentially dangerous chemicals by consuming them. This can cause them to suffer from tumors and liver problems.
These chemicals could then move up the food chain.
The revelation that microplastics appear to be as numerous in the deep parts of the ocean as on the surface is reminiscent of how little we know about the true scale of the plastics problem.
"These results are intriguing and point to the need for similar deep-water surveys in other regions, so we can determine the extent of the problem," said co-author Bruce Robison. Press release.
Answering this question will become more and more essential in the years to come as the amount of plastic in the ocean could triple over the next decade, entangling and killing more marine animals like whales and threatening to flood the ocean. island communities of millions of wastes.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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