How much does the Pacific Garbage Patch cover?

The patch covers an estimated 1.6 million square kilometers—roughly three times the size of France—and currently floats between Hawaiʻi and California. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly expanding as rotating currents called gyres pull more and more trash into the area.

How bad is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Because the garbage blocks sunlight, algae is not growing as it should. With less algae, the entire food chain is experiencing a negative disruption. In addition, the plastics floating in the ocean are leeching harmful chemicals into the water, which are likely entering the food chain.

What is the biggest problem with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Strong ocean currents carry marine debris into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Once there, the trash builds up over time. Plastics are the biggest problem.

What percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is plastic?

Beyond those details, not much was known about the specific contents of the patch—until now. What’s Really in the Patch? Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to eight percent of the total tonnage.

How much of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is fishing nets?

46\%
Fishing gear accounts for roughly 10\% of that debris: between 500,000 to 1 million tons of fishing gear are discarded or lost in the ocean every year. Discarded nets, lines, and ropes now make up about 46\% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

How much does the Pacific garbage patch weigh?

87,000 tons
The patch weighs 87,000 tons — 16 times more than previous estimates — and contains more than 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, the study shows. But its findings on the individual pieces of plastic inside the patch might hold the key to cleaning up this human-made mess.

How many animals have died in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

100 million marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone. 100,000 marine animals die from getting entangled in plastic yearly – this is just the creatures we find! 1 in 3 marine mammal species get found entangled in litter, 12-14,000 tons of plastic are ingested by North Pacific fish yearly.

How much of ocean plastic is fishing nets?

Fishing Gear Makes Up An Estimated 10\% Of Ocean Plastic Now, 10\% is still a lot.

What percentage of ocean plastic is fishing nets?

50\% of Ocean Plastic Is Fishing Nets, Not Straws. Fishing nets make up half of the ocean plastic pollution, says new research, making the fishing industry more responsible than plastic straw users.