http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/30/human-litter-european-seafloor-survey-ocean-deep
Human litter found in Europe's deepest ocean depths
Seabed survey reveals depth of marine litter problem by mapping waste in
Atlantic and Arctic oceans and Mediterranean
Jessica Aldred
theguardian.com, Wednesday 30 April 2014 22.00 BST
Bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets and other human litter have been
found in Europe's deepest ocean depths, according one of the largest
scientific surveys of the seafloor to date.
Scientists used video and trawl surveys to take nearly 600 samples from
32 sites in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea,
from depths of 35 metres to 4.5 kilometres. They found rubbish in every
Mediterranean site surveyed, and all the way from the continental shelf
of Europe to the mid-Atlantic ridge, around 2,000km from land.
Plastic was the most common type of litter found on the seafloor,
accounting for 41%, while rubbish associated with fishing activities
(discarded net and fishing lines) made up 34%. Glass, metal, wood, paper
and cardboard, clothing, pottery and unidentified materials were also
documented.
Jonathan Copley, senior lecturer in marine ecology at the University of
Southampton, who did not take part in the study, said: "This very
important research confirms what most of us who work in the deep ocean
have noticed for quite some time ? that human rubbish has got there
before us.
"But this paper presents an analysis of the kinds of rubbish, what is
common where, and what sort of activities are having the most impact in
terms of rubbish reaching the deep ocean in different regions. People
are piecing this together on a global scale to appreciate how widespread
this problem is potentially."