懷 特最後表示:「從這些例子中總結來說就是，我們就把海洋垃圾帶的數量並不如傳説的那麽糟視為一個好消息，但要清除這些塑料的費用卻貴得令人望而卻步。所 以，如何防止更多的垃圾污染我們的海洋，應該是未來努力的重心。CORVALLIS, Oregon, January 5, 2011 (ENS)
There is a "troubling" amount of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, warns an Oregon State University scientist, but she is debunking claims that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas.
Angel White, an assistant professor of oceanography at Oregon State, says claims that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s and that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton are "grossly exaggerated."
White took part in one of the few expeditions solely aimed at understanding the abundance of plastic debris and the impact of plastic on microbial communities.
The expedition, which took place August 25 through September 5, 2008 was part of research funded by the National Science Foundation through C-MORE, the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, based at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
If you look at the actual area of the plastic itself, rather than the entire North Pacific Gyre in which it cycles, the "cohesive" plastic patch is actually less than one percent of the geographic size of Texas, White says.
"The amount of plastic out there isn't trivial," White said. "But using the highest concentrations ever reported by scientists produces a patch that is a small fraction of the state of Texas, not twice the size."
One recent claim that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is as deep as the Golden Gate Bridge is tall is completely unfounded, White said.
The relationship between microbes and plastic is what drew White and her C-MORE colleagues to their analysis. On their expedition, they discovered that photosynthetic microbes were thriving on many plastic particles.
While plastic may be beneficial to some organisms, it can also be toxic, White confirms, and she is concerned that floating debris may allow invasive species to migrate into sensitive habitats.
"On one hand, these plastics may help remove toxins from the water," she said. "On the other hand, these same toxin-laden particles may be ingested by fish and seabirds. Plastic clearly does not belong in the ocean."
"If there is a takeaway message, it's that we should consider it good news that the garbage patch doesn't seem to be as bad as advertised," White said, "but since it would be prohibitively costly to remove the plastic, we need to focus our efforts on preventing more trash from fouling our oceans in the first place."
