Researchers find widespread floating plastic debris in North Atlantic

10:32 PM Sat 28 Aug 2010 GMT

'Forty-seven pieces of plastic debris were found in the stomach of this triggerfish, captured in a surface plankton net tow while traveling with a large plastic bucket in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. (Photo by David M. Lawrence, SEA)' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) &copy

Despite growing awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, little solid scientific information existed to illustrate the nature and scope of the issue. This week, a team of researchers from Sea Education Association (SEA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Hawaii (UH) published a study of plastic marine debris based on data collected over 22 years by undergraduate students in the latest issue of the journal Science. A previously undefined expanse of the western North Atlantic has been found to contain high concentrations of plastic debris, comparable to those observed in the region ...

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by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution