Source: CNN
Author: Francesca Street
An American undersea explorer has completed what is claimed to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded — returning to the surface with the depressing news that there appears to be plastic trash down there.
Continue reading Deepest ever dive finds ‘plastic bag’ at bottom of Mariana Trench
Source: USA News
Author: Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
For the first time, researchers have found microplastics in creatures that reside in the deepest parts of Earth’s oceans.
Researchers believe the discovery, outlined in a study published last month in the Royal Society Open Science journal, means that “it is highly likely there are no marine ecosystems left that are not impacted by plastic pollution.”
Continue reading Study Suggests Deep-Sea Creatures Are Eating Plastic
Source: Nippon.com
Author: Chiba Sanae
The impact of human activity, namely our heavy reliance on single-use plastic products, has reached even the deepest depths of the ocean. Recently, I helped publish “Human Footprint in the Abyss,” the first-ever paper documenting the extent of plastic pollution in marine environments at depths greater than 6,000 meters. The project involved researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and the UN World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and was based in part on findings from JAMSTEC’s Deep-Sea Debris Database. Launched in 2017, the database compiles images and videos taken from 1982 through 2015, during 5,010 dives to depths of more than 100 meters, by deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles.
Continue reading Shopping Bags in the Abyss: Addressing the Deep-Sea Plastic Crisis
Source: UN Environment
A new study has revealed that human activities are affecting the deepest part of the ocean, more than 1,000 kilometers from the mainland.
Continue reading Single-use plastic has reached the world’s deepest ocean trench
