A record amount of plastic has been recovered from the largest ever ocean clean-up.
Over the course of 48 days, an expedition to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch managed to haul an astonishing 103 tons of plastic from the ocean.
The mission was run by Ocean Voyages Institute, a non-profit founded in 1979 to help preserve the world’s oceans.
The Institute’s cleanup is the largest to date at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This remote area of the Pacific Ocean, located between California and Hawaii, is a swirling vortex that corrals and traps an astonishing amount of trash.
The items that Ocean Voyages Institute managed to pluck from the ocean is quite representative of what’s left behind - an overwhelming amount of fishing gear and consumer plastics.
A record amount of plastic has been recovered from the largest ever ocean clean-up. Picture: Ocean Voyages Institute/Cover Media
Commercial fishing equipment and “ghost nets,” which are fishing nets cast overboard instead of being properly disposed of, accounted for the majority of the 103 tons retrieved.
Sadly, the crew found numerous turtle skeletons tangled in the nets, which shows the real-life consequences of these careless actions.
“I am so proud of our hard-working crew,” shares Mary Crowley, Founder and Executive Director of Ocean Voyages Institute.
“We exceeded our goal of capturing 100 tons of toxic consumer plastics and derelict ‘ghost’ nets, and in these challenging times, we are continuing to help restore the health of our ocean, which influences our own health and the health of the planet. The oceans can’t wait for these nets and debris to break down into microplastics which impair the ocean’s ability to store carbon and toxify the fragile ocean food web.”
Known as the “Ghost Net Buster,” Crowley is renowned for developing effective methods to remove significant amounts of plastics out of the ocean, including 48 tons (96,000 lbs.) of toxic plastics during two ocean clean-ups in 2019, one from the Gyre and one from the waters surrounding the Hawaiian islands.