How Much Trash is in the Ocean?

Too much, for sure. I was on a recent cruise ship through the Panama Canal and witnessed lots of floating debris. It seemed greatest on the Pacific coast but the waters were calmer than the Atlantic side so debris was easier to spot. I watched the video and then started thinking about cruise ships, naval ships, and cargo ships and the related environmental impact they present. The impacts are all of course high and much higher than I thought. The impacts includes everything from carbon footprint, sewage, and solid waste. So for comparison, I thought it would be interesting to see how many countries or cities dump garbage or raw sewage directly into the Oceans. Again, I was amazed at the sheer lack of control in many areas. It also seems one of my favourite cities, Victoria dumps raw (Primary treated) sewage off shore into the ocean...shame on them and I will not revisit till Victoria acts more responsible about its sewage disposal practices. Asian, African, Mid-Eastern, and South American cities rank high as polluters and most areas have solid waste dumping into oceans today. So it is little wonder we have Oceans getting polluted?

Perhaps what is needed are global regulations on the use of the oceans and dumping. Why are ships exempt after they leave one counties coastal zone and are on the so called high sea? Of course the high sea is an international zone of water that other countries cannot claim. But should responsibility for the waters at high seas be different outside a countries zone? I assume of course some regulation is in force within coastal zones. I am of the opinion we are all responsible for ocean waters and rules are needed to protect the oceans. Where is the UN? If we had hard and fast rules and a ship did not adhere to such rules, I suggest we ban them from entering ports that recognize such rules. Anyway, my rant of the day.

Where the rubber meets the(end of) road....

If we're going to feed our food source garbage, the least we could do is make it edible....

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090820-plastic-decomposes-oceans-seas.html

SAVE THE WHALES people....

I'm so envious of that tire pile.

I'm thinkin' you could black out the sun for at least a week.....

Slightly disingenuous as I think the pile of tyres is deliberately placed to act as the basis for a new reef, or artificial reef if you prefer. Items such as old drilling platforms are being used to promote the growth of reef habitats in many coastal areas around the world. Okay, the tyre pile failed as a reef substrate, and were removed - but the fact remains they weren't dumped in the ocean.

I think they got the idea from seeing how shipwrecks are quickly colonised.

Refs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_reef

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef

You say potato, I say pototto...Let's call the whole thing a mess.....

http://digitaljournal.com/article/203248

Update......

....."Summer 2007 saw US Navy, Army, and Coast Guard divers based out of a Coast Guard base in Dania Beach, Florida working to clean the reef. The joint team first worked to remove the tires from where they were doing the most damage, abutting against natural reefs in the area.^[7] In 2007, the recovery effort brought approximately 10,000 tires ashore.^[11]

In 2008, recovery stopped after 26 days on May 24 after retrieving 43,900 tires. That year, Florida spent approximately $140,000 on the cleanup, some of which constituted transport for the tires to a shredding facility in neighboring Georgia whereafter they were burnt as fuel at a paper mill.^[11]"

^{Nothing further.....}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef

The picture you see above is from Sept 2013....This is how it looks today, 2 million tires spread over 30+ acres....Efforts continue for support to clean up this mess...at the link below...

https://www.causes.com/campaigns/12772-one-tire-at-a-time-help-us-remove-this-ocean-pollution

Just think how clean the oceans would be if we had never discovered oil.

Now, we have that fracking shale oil/gas too.

We're doomed.

We just need to tweak our methods a little...We can clean up as fast as we can mess up....The worm has turned.....another 200 years and you won't recognize this place....

Thanks for that.

I'll sleep much better tonight.