Plastic Soup

The ocean as monument

The USA Today that was slipped under our hotel room door this morning had the following front page headline in big letters: Huge Ocean Tract Protected. As a final decree before he passes the job on to Barack Obama, George W. Bush has declared a surface area of some 195,280 mi² of ocean in the Pacific Ocean to be a protected area. Three years ago, Bush also protected a part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (Papahanaumokuakea): some 139,793 mi². In all he has designated a larger oceanic area as a natural monument than any other person.

For a moment, I thought: Hooray!! This is the solution! We simply designate that all oceans are monuments. Until I read further.

What does this protection mean? It means that no fishing is allowed within a range of 50 miles from the islands, either on a commercial or recreational basis. But recreational fishing is subject to restrictions anyway. Also that exploitation of deep-sea minerals is not permitted. However, these are not present in any notable amounts. This was probably thought-through beforehand. Also that marine life research in these areas will be stimulated. Three good principles that are nonnegotiable.

But where is the clause about cleaning up these parts of the ocean? That which deals with cleaning up the floating plastic waste which suffocates the ocean bottom? In 2006, the United Nations calculated that in every square kilometer of ocean, there are over 46,000 pieces (of various sizes) of floating plastic. This means that in the Bush-protected areas, there are over 15 trillion plastic fragments. That is a moderate estimate.

I do give Bush credit that he has taken a step in the right direction. If he includes a clause that his “ocean monuments” need to be stripped free of all the plastic and other waste produced by man, and that he also appoints people responsible for carrying this out, I would certainly elevate him in my estimation. And when he doesn’t do so, the challenge is with Barack Obama.

Cleaning up the oceans?

Yes We Can!

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