http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140404-garbage-patch-indian-ocean-debris-malaysian-plane/

Plane Search Shows World's Oceans Are Full of Trash

Search for missing Malaysian plane shines spotlight on giant ocean
garbage patches.

Laura Parker
National Geographic
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2014

Before Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, sea trash was not a
global headliner.

But as hundreds of objects sighted off the Australian coast as possible
aircraft debris turn out to be discarded fishing equipment, cargo
container parts, or plastic shopping bags, a new narrative is emerging
in the hunt for the missing plane: There's more garbage out there than
you think. Most of it is plastic. And marine life ingests it, with
catastrophic consequences.