Lost or discarded fishing nets known as ghostnets are of particular concern as they yield direct negative impacts on the economy 4, 5, 6, 7 and marine habitats worldwide 8, 9.Īround 60% of the plastic produced is less dense than seawater 10. While the introduction of synthetic fibres in fishing and aquaculture gear represented an important technological advance specifically for its persistence in the marine environment, accidental and deliberate gear losses became a major source of ocean plastic pollution 3. A small portion may be recycled or incinerated while the majority will either be discarded into landfill or littered into natural environments, including the world’s oceans 2. A significant amount of the produced material serves an ephemeral purpose and is rapidly converted into waste. Global annual plastic consumption has now reached over 320 million tonnes with more plastic produced in the last decade than ever before 1.

Finally, our results suggest that ocean plastic pollution within the GPGP is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters. Plastic collected during our study has specific characteristics such as small surface-to-volume ratio, indicating that only certain types of debris have the capacity to persist and accumulate at the surface of the GPGP. Microplastics accounted for 8% of the total mass but 94% of the estimated 1.8 (1.1–3.6) trillion pieces floating in the area.

Over three-quarters of the GPGP mass was carried by debris larger than 5 cm and at least 46% was comprised of fishing nets. We explain this difference through the use of more robust methods to quantify larger debris. Our model, calibrated with data from multi-vessel and aircraft surveys, predicted at least 79 (45–129) thousand tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside an area of 1.6 million km 2 a figure four to sixteen times higher than previously reported. Here we characterise and quantify a major ocean plastic accumulation zone formed in subtropical waters between California and Hawaii: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Ocean plastic can persist in sea surface waters, eventually accumulating in remote areas of the world’s oceans.

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