| As if over fishing and pollution were not enough, | | | | gets tangled in it, and dies. |
| there's a body of water in the Pacific Ocean | | | | By hitching rides on plastic waste, invasive species |
| about the size of Texas not far from Hawaii | | | | can be carried thousands of miles to interact with |
| where plastic waste from around the world | | | | native creatures. Plastic waste also poses a |
| gathers and kills marine life, according to a | | | | hazard to animals that mistake it for prey and eat |
| Greenpeace report. "Plastic waste in the World's | | | | it, Smith said. ”plastic waste in the oceans act |
| Oceans" said at least 267 species -- including | | | | as a toxic sponge, soaking up a lot of the |
| seabirds, turtles, seals, sea lions, whales and fish -- | | | | persistent pollutants out here," Smith said. "We've |
| are known to have suffered from entanglement | | | | seen photos of albatrosses who eat this plastic |
| or ingestion of marine waste. | | | | waste ... Even though their stomachs are filled, |
| Some 80 percent of this waste comes from land | | | | they end up starving because there's no nutrients |
| and 20 percent from the oceans, the report said, | | | | in there." The new report comes days after the |
| with four main sources: tourism, sewage, fishing | | | | journal Science projected that Earth's stocks of |
| and waste from ships and boats. "It's not | | | | fish and seafood would collapse by 2048 if trends |
| necessarily an area that's clearly defined; it's sort | | | | in over fishing and pollution continue. The plastic |
| of a natural phenomenon ... wind and salt water | | | | waste is greatly serious currently. |
| break down the plastic waste," said Steve Smith, | | | | And two weeks ago, the U.S. Institute of Medicine |
| aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. "We've | | | | said the benefits of eating fish outweigh the risks |
| been unfortunately finding a lot of stuff out here, | | | | of toxins detected in the animals. The report said |
| floating by, which doesn't paint a very good | | | | an international agreement known as MARPOL is |
| picture, because some of it is from faraway | | | | aimed at ending the dumping of plastic waste at |
| places, has marine life like barnacles and other little | | | | sea, but noted that since most plastic waste |
| creatures living on the plastic waste," Smith | | | | originates on land, even total enforcement of this |
| continued. | | | | agreement would not eliminate the problem. |
| Ocean currents and tides carry the plastic waste, | | | | Greenpeace called for a global network of marine |
| which takes a long time to biodegrade, thousands | | | | reserves, covering 40 percent of the world's |
| of miles to an area near the Northwestern | | | | oceans, and responsibility by coastal countries to |
| Hawaiian Islands that was designated a protected | | | | cut down on "excessive consumption" and boost |
| U.S. national monument by President George W. | | | | recycling. |
| Bush in June. It's there that marine life eats it, | | | | |