The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Also called the pacific trash vortex is a rotating ocean full of debris particles in the north Pacific Ocean. The exact size varies, depending on the concentration of marine debris in the area (Kostien, 2008).

(DePerro, A 2015, Fangle Magazine, photograph, viewed 22 May, <http://www.fanglemagazine.com/?p=1363> )

This large garbage patch are caused by two gyres, the west pacific gyre and the east pacific gyre. These two gyres create a large circular current in the north pacific which collect marine debris and gathers it in the middle.

(Oceanus, 2014, Project Oceanus, photograph, viewed 20 May, <https://projectoceanus.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-in-a-nutshell/>)

 Management
Management varies due to different idea and legislations. The mot common one is by skimmer boats which remove surface material. When the debris washes up on land it can be collected by hand or by specialised beach-cleaning machines (Australian Government, 2014). Other places use "trash traps" which collect objects in small rivers before they reach the ocean. New projects have started by using ships with nets to catch plastic in the ocean such as the ship, New Horizon (Rees, 1995). There has been research into plastic-to-fuel conversion strategy that has been promoted by The Clean Oceans Projest (TCOP) (EPA, 2011). Many countries have placed laws to control ocean dumping including the organisation, United Nations who created MARPOL to reduce pollution of the sea. The USA passed the Ocean Dumping Act in 1972 which was to reduce and regulate sewage waste, radioactive waste, industrial waste and biohazard waste in waterways (Clayton, 2006).