{"id":18143,"date":"2014-12-30T11:14:15","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T11:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornellsailing.com\/ocean\/key-issues\/plastic-pollution\/"},"modified":"2015-06-12T13:24:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T13:24:53","slug":"plastic-pollution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cornellsailing.com\/de\/archives\/past-rallies\/unser-ozean\/key-issues\/plastic-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the issue<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Everything runs downhill to the ocean. Any plastic not properly disposed of is likely to end up in a drain or river, and eventually reach the coast. Plastic debris washes out to sea and often ends up travelling thousands of kilometres on ocean currents and may eventually accumulate in the five large systems of circulating ocean currents, known as \u2018gyres\u2019. The most up to date research suggests more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world\u2019s oceans.<\/p>\n

About a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die each year from getting tangled up in, and\/or eating plastic. These include albatross, whales and seals.<\/p>\n

Once floating in the ocean, UV light causes plastic to photodegrade, breaking it down into smaller pieces \u2013 microplastics. Most of the plastic in the oceans are microplastics measuring less than 5mm.These microplastics get mistaken for food, so fish and other animals end up eating it.<\/p>\n

The chemicals present at sea that are absorbed by plastics and, when ingested by animals, those adhered toxics have the potential to bio-magnify up the food chain all the way to humans.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

What can sailors do to help?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Track the Plastic: The Marine Debris Tracker<\/h3>\n
\"\"

eXXpedition used the Marine Debris Tracker to log all the marine debris they found across the Atlantic on SEA DRAGON (Atlantic Odyssey 2014) – Photo: eXXpedition<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Jenna Jambeck on SEA DRAGON shows Marine Debris Tracker to Alec, 13, on POR DOS<\/p><\/div>\n

The Marine Debris tracker app<\/em> was designed by Jenna Jambeck<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia<\/em> in partnership with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Jenna was part of the all women crew that took part in the eXXpedition project during the Atlantic Odyssey 2014<\/em>, onboard Sea Dragon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Marine Debris tracker<\/em> is free to download for most Apple and Android platforms. It just takes a few seconds to easily report where you find marine debris or litter anywhere in the world. If you are not within internet range you can store your data and send later at your convenience.<\/p>\n

You can view the data collected on the website:
\nwww.marinedebris.engr.uga.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Take Part In An Ocean Trawl<\/h3>\n
\"\"

Emily Penn and Nera Cornell trawl for plastic in the Arctic<\/p><\/div>\n

Emily Penn carried out ocean trawls to check for microplastics on behalf of the 5 Gyres Institute<\/a> during the Blue Planet Odyssey<\/a> route through the North West Passage in the summer of 2014, and again during the Atlantic Odyssey<\/a> in November 2014:<\/p>\n