re: #168 Sharmuta

Never mind if fish are eating toxic substances.

Read the article. That’s the whole point. They say that the plastic is nonbiodegradable — hence, it does not interact with the biosphere.

Another commented on that same thread makes this very same point very well:

“This is just adopt-a-highway all over again - picking up trash which mostly provided cover for small animals and has almost no actual environmental impact (it’s just ugly, so it gets our attention)

The real dangers to the oceans - the ones that will matter in our lifetimes - are over-fishing, warming and agricultural runoff - none of which are visible.

This more charismatic topic distract us from the real problems being faced and siphon off research money which could be better spent.

Plastic doesn’t biodegrade - which makes it a wonderful substrate. Substrate in the deep ocean is _the_ limiting resource for productivity. I would not be at all surprised if these ares turn out to be quite ecologically productive.

Note that there are never any pictures of the actual area - these debris had to be collected over quite a large area (a 1 hour plankton tow is processing a lot of water…)”

Obviously no one (including me) wants toxins in the water. We’re talking about inert plastic.