"The Ocean is Broken"

[Jocassee]

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/?cs=2452

No wonder the sea was dead. No wonder his baited lines caught nothing. There was nothing to catch.

Ivan's brother, Glenn, who boarded at Hawaii for the run into the United States, marvelled at the "thousands on thousands" of yellow plastic buoys. The huge tangles of synthetic rope, fishing lines and nets. Pieces of polystyrene foam by the million. And slicks of oil and petrol, everywhere.

Countless hundreds of wooden power poles are out there, snapped off by the killer wave and still trailing their wires in the middle of the sea.

The fish problem doesn't bother me as much. With proper management (by whom I don't know) I have no doubt fish stocks could be resurrected in a decade or so.

The garbage problem is an engineering problem that needs an American solution, I think.

What does the APS hive say?

[Jamisjockey]

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/?cs=2452

The fish problem doesn't bother me as much. With proper management (by whom I don't know) I have no doubt fish stocks could be resurrected in a decade or so.

The garbage problem is an engineering problem that needs an American solution, I think.

What does the APS hive say?

Welfare to work.  Send out trash collection vessels staffed with welfare kings and queens.  Other welfare kings and queens placed on child care duty. 

[AZRedhawk44]

The raw volume in metric tons of debris out there is beyond comprehension.

It cannot be solved by surface vessels doing garbage collection.  At least, not before the next tsunami rolls in somewhere else and does the same thing.  The Fukushima debris is only a fraction of what's out there.  There's a giant floating garbage dump in the Pacific, and the Fukushima stuff will merge with it as it all decomposes.

Eventually, all this material will sink to the bottom of the ocean and decompose.  It's buoyant right now, but it won't remain buoyant forever.

[drewtam]

Eventually, all this material will sink to the bottom of the ocean and decompose.  It's buoyant right now, but it won't remain buoyant forever.

I think you are right to a degree. But there is also the fact that there is a constant stream of the chemicals and garbage being dumped. So while one big wave of it will eventually dissipate, there is a stream of it coming in to replace what is being broken down.

The question is, does it get broken down fast enough to keep up?
And if not, what can we possibly do about it while balancing humanity's needs as well.

[Ben]

There's a large amount of plastics (up to 90%) and fishnets in these things that don't break down very fast, and further, entrap stuff that might otherwise sink while decomposing. So they can actually grow quite a bit versus shrinking over time. I'm actually slated to go to Midway for a few weeks this Summer to drone map some of them.

[Balog]

There's a large amount of plastics (up to 90%) and fishnets in these things that don't break down very fast, and further, entrap stuff that might otherwise sink while decomposing. So they can actually grow quite a bit versus shrinking over time. I'm actually slated to go to Midway for a few weeks this Summer to drone map some of them.

Prepping the floating FEMA camps are we? 

[Ben]

Prepping the floating FEMA camps are we? 

That's what they think they're getting me to do, but being fifth column and all, I'm actually gathering intel on where to put all the progressives and hippies.

[TechMan]

That's what they think they're getting me to do, but being fifth column and all, I'm actually gathering intel on where to put all the progressives and hippies.

The deepest part?

[vaskidmark]

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/?cs=2452

...
The garbage problem is an engineering problem that needs an American solution, I think.

...

We created bacteria to eat spilled oil.  We ought to be able to create bacteria to eat nylon and other plastics, that when starved for, say 72 hours, start to die off.  (If the stuff lives forever it would just be a scifi movie come to life.)

stay safe.

[Tallpine]

Are those the same nylon and plastics that rot in a few months out in the sun?   

If not, I wish they would start making tents and car seats etc out of the stuff floating around the ocean that lasts forever.

[Ben]

Are those the same nylon and plastics that rot in a few months out in the sun?   

Not all the garbage in the ocean is American. Not everyone uses biodegradable formulas.

[Tallpine]

Not all the garbage in the ocean is American. Not everyone uses biodegradable formulas.

Okay - well, it would sure be nice to have some of that furrin' non-biodegradable for stuff like tents and snowmobile seats, etc 

[KD5NRH]

The raw volume in metric tons of debris out there is beyond comprehension.

How much is potentially recoverable metals?

[AZRedhawk44]

How much is potentially recoverable metals?

Funny thing about metal on water... unless shaped very specially, it tends to fall.

I'm amazed that power poles are floating, actually.  I'd expect a year or two to rot, plus the amount of steel or copper transmission line attached to them, would cause them to sink pretty quickly.  I'd think submarines might have trouble with them before shipping traffic would be affected.

[Ben]

Okay - well, it would sure be nice to have some of that furrin' non-biodegradable for stuff like tents and snowmobile seats, etc 

Can't disagree with that. I always used to reuse plastic milk and juice jugs and plastic bags from the store for other stuff. I can still do it a little bit now, but they don't last nearly as long as the old formulations did, so I'm throwing them out that much sooner.

It's all part of, IMO, the whole environmental movement only caring about one of the three R's in "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". Recycling is showy and something you can talk about at wine and cheese get togethers that you drove to in your Prius after driving to the recycling center to show how much crap you're getting rid of. Keeping cars longer and reusing old containers doesn't let anyone recognize you as being environmentally aware.

[Gewehr98]

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is indeed impressive in size. 

It's fair to assume that the typhoon debris from Japan will find its way into that collection at some point in the future.

[Fly320s]

The Ocean is Broken

A sea clamp will fix it.

[RoadKingLarry]

What about sea bond?

[AJ Dual]

How about a $1 per shipping container surtax. We use it to pay for big trawlers that can drag it all to the coast of Somalia, and we can reef in the pirates with it.

[AZRedhawk44]

How about a $1 per shipping container surtax. We use it [to implement collectivist idea here].

...And the coercion and collectivism rears its head.

Taxes, regardless of legitimacy of the taxing authority, are illegitimate when they are coming from a group that is impotent to resolve the justification of the tax.  It's like taxing power over globular warming.  Or taxing cigarettes over unhealthy side effects.

And $1 per container wouldn't raise what it would take to resolve this.  $1000 per container wouldn't do it.

[Pharmacology]

The raw volume in metric tons of debris out there is beyond comprehension.

It cannot be solved by surface vessels doing garbage collection.  At least, not before the next tsunami rolls in somewhere else and does the same thing.  The Fukushima debris is only a fraction of what's out there.  There's a giant floating garbage dump in the Pacific, and the Fukushima stuff will merge with it as it all decomposes.

Eventually, all this material will sink to the bottom of the ocean and decompose.  It's buoyant right now, but it won't remain buoyant forever.

This. 
It's been rolling around out there for so long that the plastic has eroded down into tiny, tiny bits. 

Unless a way to filter out tiny plastic particles while not filtering out the good ocean-y particles exists  it'll eventually be too far gone.

[geronimotwo]

...And the coercion and collectivism rears its head.

Taxes, regardless of legitimacy of the taxing authority, are illegitimate when they are coming from a group that is impotent to resolve the justification of the tax.  It's like taxing power over globular warming.  Or taxing cigarettes over unhealthy side effects.

And $1 per container wouldn't raise what it would take to resolve this.  $1000 per container wouldn't do it.

prices are high enough that i'm surprised that no one has created a scrapping ship that uses a conveyer to lift garbage out of the ocean directly into a crusher.

[Tallpine]

prices are high enough that i'm surprised that no one has created a scrapping ship that uses a conveyer to lift garbage out of the ocean directly into a crusher.

Ya think the Alliance would frown on "unauthorized salvage" ...?   

[MechAg94]

prices are high enough that i'm surprised that no one has created a scrapping ship that uses a conveyer to lift garbage out of the ocean directly into a crusher.

Where would they put it after it is crushed?  Sink it to the bottom?

[Balog]

Where would they put it after it is crushed?  Sink it to the bottom?

Send it to Lagos or other places trying to extend the habitable land area of their settlements?