Plastic Marine Debris More Widespread Than Thought

Our landblog reports:

More bad news for the ocean ecosystem. 

Scientists have discovered plastic debris in the far-flung reaches of the Southern Ocean, thought to be untouched by human activity, The Guardian reports.

“We had always assumed that this was a pristine environment, very little touched by human beings,” said Chris Bowler, scientific co-ordinator of Tara Oceans. “The fact that we found these plastics is a sign that the reach of human beings is truly planetary in scale.”

Samples taken from four different stations at locations in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica revealed traces of plastic at a measure of approximately 50,000 fragments per square kilometre — a rate comparable to the global average.

Read the full story here.

(Photo: Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps)