A new study published in Science Direct, called “Human footprint in the abyss: 30 year records of deep-sea plastic debris,” reports the size of plastic debris pollution in the deep-sea based on the information from a recently developed database.
The Global Oceanographic Data Center (GODAC) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) launched the Deep-sea Debris Database for public use in March 2017. The database archives photographs and videos of debris that have been collected since 1983 by deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles.
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The highlights of the the study include the following:
- Plastics are ubiquitous even at depths >6000 m and 92% was single-use products.
- Single-use plastic reached the world’s deepest ocean trench at 10,898 m.
- Associations of plastic and biota were detected including in cold seep communities.
- Deep-sea plastic density in the North Pacific ranged from 17 to 335 items km−2.
Moreover, from a total of 5010 dives in the database, 3425 man-made debris items were counted. More than 33% of the debris was macro-plastic, of which 89% was single-use products, and these ratios increased to 52% and 92%, respectively, in areas deeper than 6000 m.
The deepest record was a plastic bag at 10.898 m in the Mariana Trench. Deep-sea organisms were reported in the 17% of plastic debris images, which include plastic bags on chemosynthetic cold seep communities.
Furthermore, quantitative density analysis for the subset data in the western North Pacific showed plastic density ranging from 17 to 335 items km−2 at depths of 1092–5977 m. The data show that, the influence of land-based human activities reached the deepest parts of the ocean in areas more than 1000 km from the mainland.
Finally, the study notes that international frameworks on monitoring of deep-sea plastic pollution as an Essential Ocean Variable and a data sharing protocol can deliver scientific results that can improve the management of plastic pollution and the conservation of deep-sea ecosystems.
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