At sea

Today we did two trawls and another one is on its way right now. Personally, I hoped that we would not find what we were looking for but we did. Both trawls produced number of small plastic particles.

We are using a device called Manta Trawl that is dragged on the surface level of the ocean for 3 hours straight at the speed of 1.5 knots per hour. At this point, we are only on the outskirts of the Sargosso Sea gyre. Today, we saw dozens of piece of larger plastic debris — flotsam — and were able to pick up one Styrofoam block that apparently came from some fishing gear. I am sure this not important information, but I was the one to spot the first flotsam on this voyage

We are slowly moving towards the center of the gyre. The first night, I got sea sick but I have been OK today. We have a guitar and two musicians on board. It is beautiful out here. This is going to be first time ever, since the invention of the Internet and mobile phones, that I am going to be completely without both of it for so long.

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Related posts:

1. Plastic in a belly of a jelly fish
2. First windrow – Plastic, was everywhere!
3. Another storm is coming
4. Bermuda’s beautiful bays versus plastic – Part 2
5. Second windrow – even more plastic