Erica Prof.

Ray Cruz Biology 1000 October 11, 2009

Scientists find Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Article review Today I have chosen to review an article about a large patch of garbage mostly containing plastic, 1000 miles off the coast of California. The research was conducted by Graduate students on board the New Horizon, a Scripps research vessel. On the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX), researchers got the first detailed view of plastic debris floating in a remote ocean region. The expedition got underway August 2, 2009, when the New Horizon left its home port of San Diego California. Before this expedition little was known about the size of the garbage patch and the possible effects it might have on the biological environment and sea animals. After transiting for six days the research vessel New Horizon approached its first sampling site. The team of researchers began a 24 hour testing cycles using a variety of tow nets to collect debris at several ocean depths. "We targeted the highest plastic-containing areas so we could begin to understand the scope of the problem," said Miriam Goldstein of SIO, chief scientist of the expedition. "We also studied everything from phytoplankton to zooplankton to small midwater fish."

On August 11th the team of researchers came across a large fishing net that was entangled with plastic bottles covered with barnacles, and other marine life as well as various marine life. Pete Davison, an SIO graduate student studying midwater fish, collected many types of species some of which traveled from depths as deep as 2296 feet down, up to the oceans surface.

"We targeted the highest plastic-containing areas so we could begin to understand the scope of the problem," said Miriam Goldstein of SIO, chief scientist of the expedition. "We also studied everything from phytoplankton to zooplankton to small midwater fish." By the end of the expedition the researchers found the garbage patch intriguing but had, had their fill of trash. It wasnt a pretty site

This article was interesting to me because of all the different species that were found to be living there. Its amazing that a heap of garbage can be a community to so many organisms. It seems like an unlikely place. While I find it both disturbing and disgusting to find such a large quantity of garbage mostly containing plastic in the ocean, its fascinating that so many species of marine life live there.

Work Cited Scientists Find Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch National Science Foundation Press Release- 09-159. Web. 27 Aug. 2009

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov Cindy Clark, UCSD/SIO (858) 534-3624 cclark@ucsd.edu Related Websites SEAPLEX Expedition: http://sio.ucsd.edu/Expeditions/Seaplex/