Comments on: SEAPLEX Day 8 Part 2

By: Alison Cawood

Alison Cawood — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:38:29 +0000

Honestly, at this point we have no idea how much plastic we have seen, so it is impossible to compare it to anything in a meaningful way. Until they return and all of the counts of the plastic particles are completed and all of the tow volumes for the various samples have been calculated, we can’t say how much plastic there is in a quantitative way. Right now, all that we know is that they are seeing plastic, but what one person thinks is a lot of plastic might not be so much compared to what another person thinks. That is why you can’t compare qualitative observations of this kind. Also, depending on the exact methods used to collect the samples, it may not ever be possible to directly compare the SEAPLEX results to those of Captain Moore. Different types of nets towed over different distances will give different kinds of data, even if you are seeing the exact same pattern. That is part of what makes science tricky! We won’t really have a clear picture of how much plastic was seen by the SEAPLEX cruise until several months after the end of the cruise.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:35:45 +0000

Your blogs are quite informative but are giving me (dare i say us readers) the impression that you are not finding the amount of garbage that Moore did? Please comment. What kind of follow up field study is on deck after this one. And finally are you having luck exploring a way to track the garbage. Thanks all.

By: Alison Cawood

Alison Cawood — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:16:46 +0000

In the gyre, they don’t really expect to see many shallow feeding organisms, because it is not a productive environment. So far, they have seen sperm whales and some as yet unidentified beaked whales, all deep feeders. Josh will be writing a post in a couple of days with more information.

By: Alison Cawood

Alison Cawood — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:16:09 +0000

In the gyre, they don’t really expect to see many shallow feeding organisms, because it is not a productive environment. So far, they have seen sperm whales and some as yet unidentified beaked whales. Josh will be writing a post in a couple of days with more information.

By: Debbie Bushong

Debbie Bushong — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:56:06 +0000

I am both horrified and fascinated by the fact that there is all that plastic out there. Thanks for making the trip and showing the world that all that plastic didn’t just “disappear”. I have a couple of questions: Have you had many whale encounters? I’ve read the book by Thor Heyerdahl, Kontiki and in it, he mentions that out in the open ocean, many sea creatures would come to the boat out of what seemed like curiosity (boats not being a common sight in the area). Has this happened to you? Thanks. (Note to Chelsea: Very, very proud I am. Very, very proud.)

By: zachary Schakner

zachary Schakner — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:02:44 +0000

Dear Chelsea,
I’m interested in what types of marine mammals have been spotted so far? Have you observed any direct interactions with plastics?

Hi Chels!

By: April

April — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:31:48 +0000

Jesse Dubler, Great work! Looking forward to see more of your blogs of your adventure!

By: April

April — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:27:29 +0000

I am amazed to see how many debris are there out in the ocean. It made me think we really need to form a serious plan on preventing it from happening all over the world. Ocean is not a trash! I am also fascinated how the eco-system are resolving around the garage especially sea life! Imagine laying eggs on a piece of small plastic! We need to find a better way to recycle these type of materials. GO GREEN!

By: Alison Cawood

Alison Cawood — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:50:24 +0000

We aren’t really sure. This is one of the things that is being investigated by the SEAPLEX scientists.

By: Alison Cawood

Alison Cawood — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:46:09 +0000

This is supposed to be a public interest blog, so we haven’t been putting too much of that in. This information will be shared with the scientific community after the cruise when the data has been fully analyzed and interpreted. However, I’ll see if I can give you a few of those details. The bongo nets are 202um mesh, the manta net is 333um mesh, and I think that the Oozeki trawl is 505um. The Oozeki trawls go as long as possible (I think that the ideal is 1 hour at depth), but that may get shortened due to at sea time constraints. The manta and the Bongo tows use standard CalCOFI sampling procedures (http://www.calcofi.org/cruises/handbook.html). The tow volumes won’t be calculated until after the cruise returns. I’ll ask about an entire cod end, but as I am sure you know, to most people that just looks like a jar full of goop, so I’m not sure how the communications people will feel about it!