'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is a myth as survey shows there is no 'rubbish island'

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...as-survey-sho/

'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is a myth, warn experts, as survey shows there is no 'rubbish island'

The ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ has been billed as a floating island of plastic debris, stretching out across an area of ocean the size of India, a testament to man’s abuse of the planet.

So when images emerged from the first aerial survey of the area they proved somewhat underwhelming.

Far from showing a vast swathe of plastic containers, fishing nets and rubbish, the detritus was seen to be scattered over a wide area, with just 1,000 large objects discovered in a survey of thousands of square miles.

Although The Ocean Cleanup, the charity who carried out the sweep, claimed that they had found more plastic than was expected, other experts said the ‘garbage patch’ was a myth which had never been substantiated by any proper scientific research and risked diverting attention from the real problem – a dangerous build of microplastics in the area.

Dr Angelicque White, Associate Professor at Oregon State University, who has studied the ‘garbage patch’ in depth, said: “The use of the phrase ‘garbage patch’ is misleading . I’d go as far as to say that it is a myth and a misconception.

“It is not visible from space; there are no islands of trash; it is more akin to a diffuse soup of plastic floating in our oceans.

“Yes, there is plastic in the ocean. Peer-reviewed papers suggest that the highest concentration of microplastic is around three pieces of plastic the size of a pencil eraser in a cubic meter.

“The continued use of verbage such as ‘plastic islands’, ’twice the size of Texas’, is pure hyperbole that I personally believe undermines the credibility of those that should be focused on helping reduce the source stream of marine debris to our oceans.”

How much money has been made out of this scam I wonder? Charities, research grants, invention grants - you name it.

Funny stuff. My Grandad has ALWAYS said if there's such a thing out there then why have we never seen any pictures of footage of the rubbish patch stretching out for miles and miles beyond the eye. Answer: it didn't exist.

Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

What about an island of carnivorous plants populated by meerkats