Algalita Marine Research Blog

After 31 days, 4100 nautical miles, 67 plastic positive samples from The South Atlantic Gyre, The 5 Gyres Team has arrived in Cape Town, South Africa safely.  Currently, we're participating in outreach, education and press events in partnership with The Two Oceans Aquarium.  It's been a harrowing journey, but the crew is well and extremely grateful to all of followers on the blog and supporters.  Stay tuned for reports from land over the next few weeks as well and our return expedition from Walvis Bay, Namibia to Montevideo, Uruguay where we'll research another transect of The South Atlantic Gyre and a smaller accumulation zone off the coast of Argentina. Thanks to Chaco, Ecousable, Quiksilver Foundation, Patagonia, Maui Jim, and O'Neill for their support.

In this relatively new field of plastic marine pollution, we’re constantly learning, coming up with new questions, and seeking new ways to answer them. We’ve seen plastic in the stomachs of fish – now we hope to uncover the potential human health impacts. We’ve wondered if fish have a tendency to ingest plastics when forced into the end of our net during our sampling, so we’ve added a second net to eliminate this possible bias. We see that as plastic particles become increasingly smaller, they begin to disappear – bringing up the question of the ultimate fate of microplastics. It’s a constant process of learning, improving, and being open to new approaches. So we appreciate the same from the companies we work with.  When 5 Gyres gave a presentation last year to staff from the Quiksilver Foundation, both Jeff Wilson and Ryan Ashton immediately followed up with a sincere desire to reduce the company’s plastic footprint. It’s an interesting challenge, one that many companies wrestle with: how to replace plastic packaging with an affordable, truly sustainable alternative – one that isn’t mere “greenwashing”. While we haven’t yet found the answer, we’ve been impressed with the dialogue, and the tenacity with which their team continues the quest.  From the beginning of this project, Quiksilver Foundation was on board, lending key support for last years 5 Gyres expedition – the first trans North Atlantic voyage studying plastic. The foundation will continue supporting next years South Pacific expedition – completing our goal of studying plastic in all 5 subtropical gyres. They also kept me warm during this quick dip in the middle of the Atlantic with pro surfer James Pribram – posing amidst a plethora of plastic trash we collected at sea! 5 Gyres shares several key goals with Quiksilver Foundation – sustainability, education, youth, and community involvement. We’re thrilled to continue working together on our common mission – leaving a lighter footprint for future generations to enjoy the oceans as we do. It will take a village....but were off to a great start.5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more.

We like to interact with our fans, even while we're out on expedition, so we've been taking questions from Facebook and Twitter to help you better understand the issues that we're working on. Got your own question? Ask away! We can't answer all of them, but we'll try to get to as many as we can.What brought you here and how can we inspire future generations to move in a different, non disposal direction? -Catharine Vargas A “non-disposal direction” is exactly what we envision as we usher in the “Age of Rationality”. There’s no room for the concept of “Waste”, philosophically and literally. With 6.5 billion customers in a globalized economy, any manufacture of the smallest widget can turn into a mountain of waste if there is no post-consumer plan. The Age of Rationality means we plan for the lifecycle of what we create. Producers take responsibility for the post-consumer life of their products, including better design for recycling, efficient systems of recovery, and subsidized value for post-consumer plastic.  In a literal sense, there is no more room for waste in the world. Today we are exactly halfway between Rio de Janiero and Cape Town, as far from land as we could possibly be. Yet there’s confetti of plastic pollution across the ocean surface in all directions. What consumes your thoughts most of the time while you are at sea? Do you feel more positive or more negative out there? Are there any feasible solutions to the problems that you've thought of while at sea? -Kate Kelsch Esaia I think about solutions often. One that I’ve thought through is the issue of cleaning up the sea by going to the sea. The instant reaction most of us have is, “Well, just get a big net and scoop it up!” It’s not that simple. Imagine a teaspoon of plastic confetti spread over a football field. Now imagine 9 million football fields in the North Pacific alone. Clean up is not impossible, just impractical. Netting the gyre to clean up plastic is like standing on a skyscraper with a vacuum cleaner to suck up smog. Though, it would be cost effective to let plastic wash ashore on islands, then clean it up.  The subtropical gyres that collect plastic pollution spit it out to islands, those natural nets, like Hawaii, Bermuda, Azores, Mauritius, Easter Island. The ocean will take care of itself, but we MUST STOP ADDING MORE! Here’s where land-based solutions are essential. Better design for recyclability, subsidized value for post-consumer plastic, bioplastics, and efficient systems of recovery, Extended Producer Responsibility, these together can turn off the tap of plastic flowing down our streets and streams to the sea.5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more.

450 miles from Cape Town, and our thoughts begin to turn towards home. Gone are the glassy seas and sunny skies characteristic of the gyre, where winds die and plastic lives. Building swells and gray skies hint at some final weather to come. We’re back to walking around at a permanent 45 degree angle. The sickness meds resurface. As one of our parting gifts, tonight the ocean graced us with one of the more spectacular sights of this voyage. We were all sitting in the galley, working on computers before another pasta dinner (we’re down to an all carb diet – pasta, bread, pasta, rice, and more bread) when excited shouts above sent us racing on deck. “WHALE! Starboard side, right by the boat!” About 100 feet from the boat, a dark, glistening back traced a half moon over the water, close enough that we could practically feel its spray. After weeks of seeing little other life than a few Yellow Albatross and Storm Petrels, the sight of a whale – a Minke - was high excitement. For 15 minutes, we all stood transfixed, waiting for the next appearance. She emerged a few more times – sleek, black, awe-inspiring – before diving back down out of sight. Seeing a whale in the context of this voyage, I can’t help but think about how we’ve transformed their feeding grounds into a sea of plastic. These whales filter for food, sieving great mouthfuls of water just as we sieve surface water for plastic. I think about the amount of plastic we find in a hour long tow, using our relatively tiny manta trawl, and imagine what a whale might ingest, sieving the oceans daily.... On the brighter side, we’ve definitely noticed a drop in plastic, now that we’re outside the predicted accumulation zone. Our manta trawls now fill to overflowing with planktonic goo, with far fewer plastic fragments than just 3-4 days ago. This fits our expectations, based on Nikolai Maximenko’s computer models – nice when reality matches expectations. 5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more.

3 days to go, and racing to make our Dec. 8th arrival. On the weather charts, a nasty, foreboding red patch awaits us, signifying more 30-40 knot winds. Ah well, by now the crew are used to it... With our final 7 trawls, we have an extremely cool opportunity to repeat one of the only other studies done on surface plastics in the South Atlantic. In 1979, Robert Morris (Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, UK) conducted a study on floating plastics in the surface waters of Cape Basin, aboard the R.R.S Discovery. Using a neuston tow, just like like our Manta Trawl, Morris gathered 9 samples, finding HDPE and PP plastic pellets in 7, and tarballs in every one. Starting at 4:50 am this morning, we’re revisiting Morris’s sample sites, trawling at the same coordinates to see how things changed in a few decades. Any guesses? The first of these trawls we are dedicating to Nature Safe, one of our sponsors supporting this particular tow. With their support, we're able to collect, process, and publish the results of this sample - the crux of our work. Philisophically, Nature Safe is a perfect fit - this Australian company provides EcoTanka stainless steel waterbottles, an alternative to throwaway plastics. Two weeks ago, near the center of the South Atlantic Gyre, we found a plastic water bottle bobbing on the ocean's surface. An unfortunate example of the darker side of our disposable addiction. Any readers who haven't yet made the switch - now is the time. Flipping through Morris’s original study “Plastic Debris in the Surface Waters of the South Atlantic,” I’m intrigued to note that several questions he poses remain unanswered today, 31 years later: 1) The potential impacts of plastic on marine wildlife. “Those plastics containing PCBs and phthalates as plasticizers could well be a source of these compounds which are known contaminants of ocean waters and organisms... The possible dangers to marine life of these floating particles has received considerable attention, but the data are conflicting.” 2) Morris notes that his results overall will likely be underestimated, as gathering surface samples with 100% accuracy is near impossible. What’s interesting: he notes that at the time of his work, “sampling efficiency is estimated to range from 25 – 50% depending on sea state.”  This unresolved question of how sea state impacts plastics’ buoyancy is something we’ve wondered about in the last few weeks. On this expedition we’ve sampled in some less than ideal conditions – i.e. raging storms – and still found plastic in our trawls. Though we may have to exclude some of these samples from our publishable results, its still valuable to note that plastic still remains at the surface despite churning waves and gale force winds. Marcus is already dreaming up a multi-layered manta that will sample at different depths, to see how sea state impacts plastics location in the water column. Perhaps a study for the South Pacific. Finally, Morris’s suggestion for international cooperation is, we hope, coming true. In his 1980 paper, Morris calls for attention from UNEP: “Clearly a strong lead is required from an international environmental organization such as the United Nations Environment Programme if this problem is to be seriously tackled. Only in this way can satisfactory pollution control measures for plastic waste become the norm and be effective.” 5 Gyres is now working actively with UNEP’s Safe Planet Campaign on Hazardous Chemicals and Waste, and will be holding an international press conference in Cape Town with UNEP to share our findings. We’re hopeful that as more international bodies learn that plastic pollution is a global issue, stemming from every continent in the world, more partnerships like this will emerge. This is why we're here.5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more. 

Halfway between South America and Africa, as far from land as we could be in the southern hemisphere, the 5 Gyres team found a plastic water bottle. We’re in the middle of the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, where we’ve discovered a new garbage patch of plastic pollution. Single-use plastic products, though convenient for the consumer and profitable for the producer, have long-term consequences to the land, sea and human health. To do our part, we’ve got a dozen Ecousable stainless-steel water bottles aboard. The 5 Gyres team has traveled across the N. Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and N. Pacific before this expedition. Ecousable has been with us all the while, even when we launched the JUNK RAFT project in 2008. We approached Joey Mendelson, founder of Ecouasble, with our idea to tie 15,000 used plastic water bottles under a derelict Cessina airplane and float it from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Ecousable helped us to store clean water for the 88-day voyage through the North Pacific Garbage Patch, and bring awareness of the plastic marine pollution issue to millions of people. Today we’re at sea again, doing research aboard the 72 ft. sailboat “Sea Dragon”. We’ll share our findings with the world, thanks to our loyal sponsor, Ecousable.5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more. 

We’re now on the southeastern edge of the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, on the home stretch to Cape Town, South Africa. We’ve had the joy of a week of spectacular weather, and even a Minke whale traveled alongside our boat for a while today, breaching the surface to show its pointy dorsal fin. The sea surface is calm, relative to the storms we had a week ago. It almost looks glassy at times. We’re still trawling. Every sample contains plastic, but it’s different. “What’s all that string in there?” a crewmember chimes in, as the hi-speed trawl comes in over the rail. The end of the net is heavy with slimy salps. Hovering in the net between them are dozens of plastic fragments, like confetti. But also there long pieces of colored nylon and monofilament fishing line. It is unusual. This has happened before, the way plastic in the trawl changes with the weather. But why? When the wind and waves become calm, the plastic rises. In higher sea states plastic is churned below the surface. Larger fragments stay on top. In our trawls conducted during 8-10 foot seas, we only found large, pea-sized fragments. There was no line, and no small fragments. Now, this has changed. Monofilament line and nylon are relatively close to the density of seawater, so it doesn’t take much to drag them down. But after a few days of calm, these types of plastic slowly migrate to the surface. One big question yet to be answered is, “What is the effect of sea state on the vertical distribution of plastic pollution?” Our experience sailing 4000 miles across the South Atlantic Ocean is giving us a glimpse at the answer.5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more. 

It’s hard to believe just a week ago, we were bucking wildly across a boiling seascape, clutching handholds for balance as we staggered around in our wet foul weather gear. We’re now enjoying sunny days on the deck, looking out over bathtub-calm, indigo waters, glassy and pristine as far as the eye can sea. This unspoiled view of the infinite blue changes dramatically when we pull up our surface samples, finding day after day for 3 weeks now that these waters are stained with a synthetic coating of plastic waste. The brutal weather we sailed through to get here was simply one of many challenges one encounters in any project – a humbling reminder of the teamwork it takes to accomplish ones goals in life. Now that were here, in ideal trawling conditions, collecting the world’s first scientific samples on plastic pollution in the South Atlantic, were particularly thankful for the sponsors that supported us to get here – Chaco, Quiksilver, Ecousable, Patagonia, Henri Lloyd, and our trawl sponsors. Today, we’re recognizing Life Without Plastic for sponsoring trawl #35, pictured here.  This image represents one, single surface tow from the South Atlantic, roughly halfway between Brazil and South Africa, covering roughly 2 miles of ocean strained through a 60 by 25 centimeter opening. 2 Portuguese Man O War, 3 pelagic crabs, a tangled ball of synthetic fishing line, and dozens of broken down plastic fragments. This is what we see every single day. Each sample that we collect will go back to our lab in Redondo Beach, CA for a laborious week of processing. This is one of the most important steps of our research, yet the hardest to fund – lab work is not sexy or glamorous. Its laborious, painstaking work, literally picking through every single piece of plastic under a microscope, and calculating density and surface abundance. But without this work, our efforts here are meaningless. This is where trawl sponsors come in. Our Sponsor A Trawl program invites companies or individuals to support a single surface tow, from collection at sea to lab analysis. Life Less Plastic was the first sponsor to step up to the plate. The husband and wife team who started Life Less Plastic are passionate about finding solutions to the issue of plastic pollution, and began this company as a way to offer easy alternatives to disposable plastics. I’ve had my eye on their plastic-free baby goods – with a 16-month old niece, I’m more attuned than ever to the copious amounts of plastic that the “baby industry” generates.... 5 Gyres sends a special thank you from the mid Atlantic to Life Without Plastic! We encourage our readers to check out their site -  many fantastic green goods for the approaching holiday season....this year, we'll be giving everyone gyre samples and wishes for a waste - free 2011. 5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more. 

It’s hard to believe just a week ago, we were bucking wildly across a boiling seascape, clutching handholds for balance as we staggered around in our wet foul weather gear. We’re now enjoying sunny days on the deck, looking out over bathtub-calm, indigo waters, glassy and pristine as far as the eye can sea. This unspoiled view of the infinite blue changes dramatically when we pull up our surface samples, finding day after day for 3 weeks now that these waters are stained with a synthetic coating of plastic waste. The brutal weather we sailed through to get here was simply one of many challenges one encounters in any project – a humbling reminder of the teamwork it takes to accomplish ones goals in life. Now that were here, in ideal trawling conditions, collecting the world’s first scientific samples on plastic pollution in the South Atlantic, were particularly thankful for the sponsors that supported us to get here – Chaco, Quiksilver, Ecousable, Patagonia, Henri Lloyd, and our trawl sponsors. Today, we’re recognizing Life Less Plastic for sponsoring trawl #35, pictured here.  This image represents one, single surface tow from the South Atlantic, roughly halfway between Brazil and South Africa, covering roughly 2 miles of ocean strained through a 60 by 25 centimeter opening. 2 Portuguese Man O War, 3 pelagic crabs, a tangled ball of synthetic fishing line, and dozens of broken down plastic fragments. This is what we see every single day. Each sample that we collect will go back to our lab in Redondo Beach, CA for a laborious week of processing. This is one of the most important steps of our research, yet the hardest to fund – lab work is not sexy or glamorous. Its laborious, painstaking work, literally picking through every single piece of plastic under a microscope, and calculating density and surface abundance. But without this work, our efforts here are meaningless. This is where trawl sponsors come in. Our Sponsor A Trawl program invites companies or individuals to support a single surface tow, from collection at sea to lab analysis. Life Less Plastic was the first sponsor to step up to the plate. The husband and wife team who started Life Less Plastic are passionate about finding solutions to the issue of plastic pollution, and began this company as a way to offer easy alternatives to disposable plastics. I’ve had my eye on their plastic-free baby goods – with a 16-month old niece, I’m more attuned than ever to the copious amounts of plastic that the “baby industry” generates.... 5 Gyres sends a special thank you from the mid Atlantic to Life Less Plastic! We encourage our readers to check out their site, many fantastic green goods for the approaching holiday season....this year, we'll be giving everyone gyre samples and wishes for a waste - free 2011. 5 Gyres wouldn't be possible without your support. Please consider supporting our ongoing work and help us do the research and be the change the world needs to end plastic pollution by donating. Every amount makes a difference. Click here to learn more. 

As part of our sponsorship deal with Chaco, we talked about dedicating a few blogs to the company for supporting our work to research plastic pollution in an as yet unstudied ocean gyre: The South Atlantic. As the Communications Director for The 5 Gyres Institute I could do that. After all, I do have background in journalism and writing marketing copy. But to adequately portray our relationship that would seem to saccharine. Too forced. So how about this: 12.2.10 Attention: Chaco USA From: The 5 Gyres Crew (somewhere just east of the Prime Meridian in The South Atlantic) Dear Chaco, straight up, if you hadn’t supported us, we would not be here. Our ship would not have left port in Rio De Janeiro and we wouldn’t have made a crucial scientific discovery that affects every person on this earth. We simply would not have had the resources to organize this month-long expedition to an area of earth rarely visited, even by commercial ships. If you hadn’t supported us, we wouldn’t have been so much further along in our mission to educate the world that oceanic plastic pollution isn’t simply an issue that affects the North Pacific in a so called, ‘Texas Sized Garbage Patch.’ If you hadn’t supported us, we wouldn’t be able to tell this global story of tragedy and hope. Yes, dearest Chaco, I like your sandals, your shoes and your flip flops. And so does the whole crew onboard. And yes, they’re going to show up in photos and films. But not because we had to pose people wearing them thinking that we need to make your higher brass happy, but rather, because from a utilitarian, comfort and stylistic standpoint, they just plain kick ass (I can’t say it more plainly). I don’t know if your product test list includes that criteria, but check the ‘kick ass’ box. They work, well. Period. And yes dearest Chaco, we like that you approach sustainability from a durability standpoint (though unfortunately not always the sexiest green buzz word) and also repair and replace your product for your consumers to make them last and stay out of landfills and stay out of the ocean. I can’t tell you how often we see cheap, crappy flip flops out here. Pat yourself on the back, and check the ‘kick ass’ box again. So, dear Chaco, what you’re going to get in terms of photo assets from us is going to be as organic as the community of folks that already wear them. Those folks are going to see us wearing them and they’re not going to think, ‘hey look at the cheesy marketing photo shoot.’ No, they’re going to be witness to a story of the sea that isn’t in the limelight. They’re going to be witness to our body of work as it unfolds, 24/7 as this expedition continues. They’re going to be witness to us documenting a modern marine eco-disaster that covers 70% of the planet’s surface. What’s best, (and what we’re grateful for beyond the financial help), is that we have access to your community. We get to speak directly to them about the issue of single use plastics and the havoc it’s wreaking on our oceans. We get to speak to an entire legion of conservation minded, educated people with an undying spirit of adventure who live to love the wilderness where your footwear takes them. That’s gold to us. Dearest Chaco, we’re delighted to let your community see us as we truly are after 31 days at sea: happy, sad, battered, dirty, shaven, unshaven, sunburnt, cut-up, beautiful, ugly, passionate, funny, tired, really wanting a beer, strong, but ultimately, always, inspired. And who is walking the walk in your shoes? Well, we take all sorts of people with us: scientists, filmmakers, photographers, pro surfers, activists, educators, actors, journalists, professional sailors, artists -- in short, people who give a crap about this planet and will come back to terra firma as ambassadors for our cause. For THE cause. And thanks to you, we have a little oceanic activist factory happening out her in this vast liquid wilderness. And thanks to you, we will see Africa in a few days time having discovered a story that we will have the resources to share with the world. What have we seen? Well, in every sample, some 41 already, we’ve found fragmented plastic particles over a 4,000 mile transect, every time. We’ve also watched bleach bottles, refrigerator trays, fish chewed plastic sheeting, buckets, bottle caps, water bottles, and countless other unrecognizable plastic trash. We've also collected fish samples to look at how plastic which concentrates persistent organic pollutants in the ambient sea waterand biomagnifies up the food chain and ultimately may affect human health. All of this floating by as we pass through as but a needle in a cosmically large haystack. Yes, what we thought would be here, is, undeniably, here. So Thank You. We actually, really, look forward to working with you in the future on our upcoming expeditions and all our other outreach tours and education events. Oh and hey, seriously, get one of your folks onboard and out here with us. You have an open invitation. Personally, we’re going to bat for Whitney Conner because she believed in our project straight away and without her faith and grit, this wouldn’t have happened. So cheers Whitney and salute to all of you at Chaco who helped us realize a dream that we’re a few days away from completing the first leg of. Oh yeah, we’ll be coming back across in a month’s time with a whole other crew. In short, because of you, we’ve almost made it across our 4th Gyre. From a crew of very passionate and dedicated people to another, Thank You, The 5 Gyres Institute Expedition Team Anna Cummins Dr. Marcus Eriksen Stiv J. Wilson Leslie Moyer Sara Close