Group photo taken during the 'Plastic Soup' study

Plastic soup
Before Haico Wevers set out on his voyage with the Beagle, there was a myth about enormous "plastic islands" in the oceans. One of the important conclusions during the voyage on the Stad Amsterdam clipper is that there are no such islands. There is a lot of plastic in some sections of the ocean but the concentrations are lower than suspected. UV rays and seawater degrade the plastic into small particles that are sometimes not much bigger than plankton. And fishing for plastic also filters a lot of fine marine life out of the water. It is totally unrealistic to expect us to remove those small particles from the water using dredging equipment: you would be doing more harm than good.

Food chain
Marine life is teeming in the ‘plastic soup’ areas in the ocean. Algae flourish on the miniscule pieces of plastic. But that is precisely the dangerous thing: fish and shellfish think they're eating a nice meal of algae, but they end up swallowing a dose of plastic as well. That is a potential problem, because lots of plastics contain harmful substances like plasticizers, phenols and heavy metals. On top of that, we know that contaminants in the water, like PCBs and dioxins, bond to the small plastic particles. So there is a possibility that all those substances may end up in our food chain. It is important for more research to be conducted to establish a better picture of these ecological effects.

Recommendations
By getting involved in the Beagle project, we want to raise awareness of this social problem. Here in the West, we are now aware of the need for recycling. And we pay a lot of money for it. But systems like this are still lacking in large parts of the world. That means that global coordination is needed.
So the main recommendations of the Beagle team are mainly preventive: make sure that plastic doesn't get into the sea or into the natural environment. Improve collection and recycling arrangements. Manufacture plastic that is 100% biologically degradable. Not throwing away plastic should be rewarded. And if plastic gets into the sea anyway, it is more effective to tackle the problem at source: near estuaries, from the beaches and through the fishing industry. But ultimately, it's all about one thing: improve the world, but start with yourself. Stop and think before you use plastic products. And don't pollute nature by throwing away plastic! It will be a major step forward if everybody just sticks to that simple rule!

Click on this link to see the program about Plastic Soup again.