http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/17/help-save-our-oceans-from-plastic-debris/

Help Save Our Oceans from Plastic Debris
Posted by Gregg Treinish of NG Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal
on January 17, 2014

When paddler, filmmaker and Steve Weileman bottled his first sample of
sea water off a remote, undeveloped section of the Alaskan coast it
looked transparent and pristine. Weeks later when Adventurers and
Scientists for Conservation (ASC) partner scientist Abby Barrows looked
at the same sample under her microscope she found what she finds in more
than 85% of surface sea water samples: microplastic particles. Large
plastic litter is easy to see in our oceans.