About This Project

We will be examining the great Pacific garbage patch and its main contributor, the fishing industry. The fishing industry contributes up to 20%, about 705,000 tons, of pollutants to the patch. Our study is designed to assess what the main cause of pollution from fishing boats are: accidental, non eco friendly equipment, or lack of knowledge.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water. The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is caused by non-biodegradable pollutants being dumped in the ocean, a majority of which are fishing nets. The state of our oceans is worsening and since there is no way to productively clean the plastics out of our oceans we need to start focusing on preventative measures. We were inspired by a study "Out of sight but not out of mind: Harmful effects of derelict traps in selected U.S. coastal waters" in which researchers examined the significance of using biodegradable netting. https://www.sciencedirect.com

What is the significance of this project?

Ghost fishing contributes to increased mortalities in a wide variety of marine organisms and is especially damaging to endangered and protected marine species, such as marine mammal and sea turtle populations. This study examines the question; will ghost fishing decline if we equip fishing boats with biodegradable netting and educate fishermen/women on the importance of this problem along with preventative measures? We hypothesize that if we educate fishermen/women on how to reduce the amount of pollutants they are contributing to on an average fishing boat along with the detrimental affects of doing so, plus equipping them with correct equipment, the amount of harmful gear being dumped in the ocean will decline. marinedebris.noaa.gov "Impact of Ghost Fishing."

What are the goals of the project?

In order to find out why so much of ocean pollutants are caused by fisheries, we will be conducting a study to see if education and use of biodegradable products will help to reduce the amount of debris in the ocean. We will conduct a study of 10 different fishing boats off the coast of Oregon. We will implementing educational classes for the crew of every boat to inform them how to reduce waste output along with the harm that pollution into the water can cause, then these same boats will be equip with biodegradable equipment including nets. In order to keep the study unbiased we will not be informing the men of the ship the extent of our research. We will do this to examine if these methods reduce waste output of the fisherman.