The vast majority of the notorious giant plastic “splains” floating in the Pacific Ocean originate in Japan and China — but the US, South Korea and Taiwan are also to blame
- Two-thirds of the vast plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean comes from Japan and China
- Overfishing in these countries, along with South Korea, the United States and Taiwan, accounts for 87 percent of the waste
- The Abandoned, Lost or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) category includes oyster spacers, eel traps, and lobster and fish trailers
- Transparency of the fishing industry and cooperation between nations to regulate ALDFG would reduce emissions of marine plastics, researchers said
Most of the Pacific Ocean’s giant floating patch of plastic “garbage” comes from overfishing in two countries — Japan and China — new research shows.
Scientists analyzed 573 kilograms of dry hard plastic waste they collected in 2019 with help from The Ocean Cleanup organization and found that more than a quarter of the fragments came from “abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear” (known as ALDFG).
This category includes things like oyster spacers, eel traps, lobster and fish tags, and plastic floats and buoys.
“Here we show that most floating plastics in the North Pacific subtropical gyre can be traced back to five industrialized fishing nations,” wrote data scientist Laurent Lebreton and colleagues.
Most of the Pacific Ocean’s giant floating patch of plastic “garbage” comes from overfishing in two countries — Japan and China — new research shows
Scientists analyzed 573 kilograms of dry hard plastic waste they collected in 2019 with help from The Ocean Cleanup organization
Of 232 plastic objects examined by researchers with clues as to their origin, about two-thirds were made in Japan or China.
Another ten percent come from South Korea, 6.5 percent from the USA, 5.6 percent from Taiwan and 4.7 percent from Canada.
Every country has a high demand for fish and a thriving industry.
The researchers then used computer models to simulate how the debris got into the patch – and eventually discovered that a plastic fragment was 10 times more likely to come from fishing activities than from land-based ones.
“Marine sources such as inputs from fisheries have been commonly attributed around half a million tonnes [of plastic waste] per year, but this estimate, which has been cited repeatedly over the years, was misinterpreted by an initial study from the 1970s,” the authors write in their article published today in the journal Scientific Reports.
Of 232 plastic objects examined by researchers with clues as to their origin, about two-thirds were made in Japan or China. Another ten percent come from South Korea, 6.5 percent from the USA, 5.6 percent from Taiwan and 4.7 percent from Canada
“Greater transparency of the fishing industry and increased cooperation between countries to regulate and monitor the emergence of ALDFG would help reduce emissions from the ‘other tap’ of marine plastics.”
“No newer, more reliable estimate has been proposed since.”
About half of what they analyzed was from the 20th century, but one buoy appeared to be from 1966.
“These five countries were not recognized as major contributors to land-based emissions of plastics to the ocean, but were identified as major North Pacific fishing nations,” the authors write.
“Greater transparency of the fishing industry and increased cooperation between countries to regulate and monitor the emergence of ALDFG would help reduce emissions from the ‘other tap’ of marine plastics.”
The entire ocean dump, also known as the Pacific Garbage Gyre, contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic.
The entire ocean dump, also known as the Pacific Garbage Gyre, contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic
