Subject: Re: marine debris [was: Ab'd Gill Nets (fishing line too!)]
Date: Dec 24 12:44:18 1997
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

Richard Rowlett writes of another heartrending insult to the planet. It was
Berton Rouche who wrote sometime in the progress-maddened America of the
1950's that to be a naturalist looking at the world was to see an open wound
every day of one's life. It's still true, though simple neglect and
callousness have replaced the razing fantasies of perfection.

>On the morning of August 12, 1988, we were in the middle of the
>gyre, and already way overloaded with work, I was greeted to a cloudless day
>and slick calm sea covered like snow for endless miles from horizon to horizon
>with marine debris, floating plastic of all descriptions, fishing nets and
>gear, everything imaginable from condoms to even the thoroughly decomposed
>remains of a human body.

The above in its prosaic horror reminds me of an image from childhood, the
industrial city of Manchester, England, and slagheap after slagheap after
slagheap extending miles in every direction to the horizon.

>Why here, out in the middle of nowhere, you wonder. The North Pacific Gyre is
>a centralized collecting spot created by the circulating ocean currents and
>the presence of the mostly stable North Pacific High Pressure, "the big H" I
>like to call it :-)....When 'the big H' breaks down and
>during seasonal storms, no small amount of this material is released into the
>current system to travel thousands of miles to end up on beaches all around
>the Pacific Rim, or float around endlessly until redeposited back in the gyre.
>That which remains is suppressed by wave action and rough seas to be suspended
>for a time out of sight just below the surface until prolonged calm conditions
>prevail once again and it all appears back at the surface.
>
>>From time to time, I hear of groups getting together for an "annual" beach
>walk and cleanup. Why even bother, I often wonder.

Well, if it's centralised, what's the possibility of going out to the gyre
with some sort of collector/recycler ship, or a chartered freighter to fill
up the holds, hoovering the crud up whenever the weather's calm on a fairly
periodic basis? Might there be some UN money for this? Maybe some sort of
penny-point impost on fishing gear or licences? A donation from Bill G?

>Picture if you will; Red-footed
>Boobies sitting around on 25 kilogram bales of cocaine! :-))

Maybe there's a causative factor in vagrancy of certain species we've not
considered up to now. '-)

(snip)
>that my only brother has been suddenly hospitalized and diagnosed
>with full blown AIDS in New York City.

Oh, Richard, I am so sorry for you and your family for this cruel blow.

>Have a very Merry Christmas and holiday season everyone. The tweeters forum
>at times has almost become a part of the family for me when I'm ashore and
>intown. Thank you all and sorry for ending so abruptly with a bombshell.
>--Richard

And you, too, Richard; I--and I'm sure the others on our list--hope this
eclipsing sadness will soon pass for you and your family.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net