Many have by now heard about plastic in the North Pacific Gyre, a massive, slow-rotating oceanic system formed by opposing currents, winds, and the earth’s rotation. Plastic trash from land – the water bottles, bags, toys, cups, packaging, and other disposable objects we use and toss daily – make their way out to sea through rivers, storm drains, and our own carelessness. Swept up into the currents of the gyre, these durable petroleum products can travel thousands of miles, ensnaring untold thousands of marine animals, fouling remote beaches, and breaking into microscopic fragments that enter the marine food web.

But what few people realize is that the problem expands far beyond the North Pacific. There are in fact 5 subtropical gyres where plastic trash may accumulate – The North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. The 5 Gyres Project has now been to three of the five, and found “garbage patches” throughout.

Over the past 5 years, we’ve crossed the North Pacific Gyre 3 times with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, including once on a JUNK raft built from 15,000 plastic bottles.

With Algalita, we saw a rapid increase in the amount of plastic floating on the oceans surface, and new evidence of plastic in the stomachs of fish. This image below of a Rainbow Runner, caught by our JUNK sailors 500 miles off the coast of Hawaii, illustrates the potential human health issue – 17 pieces of plastic in the stomach of a single fish.

This prompted the launch of 5 Gyres, to study plastic pollution at a global level, and begin investigating some of the unanswered questions. Namely - what is the global distribution of plastic waste? And do toxins from plastic accumulate in the tissues of animals, including the fish we eat?

Tomorrow we’ll write more about what we’ve seen on our expeditions and conclusions we’ve made. We’ll also tell you about our future plans.