{"id":10697,"date":"2019-09-10T22:54:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T22:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moevarua.com\/plastic-contaminates-the-coast-of-rapa-nui\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T01:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:28:15","slug":"plastic-contaminates-the-coast-of-rapa-nui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moevarua.com\/en\/plastic-contaminates-the-coast-of-rapa-nui\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic contaminates the coast of Rapa Nui"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic contaminates the coast of Rapa Nui<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Every year millions of tons of plastic are dumped into the oceans.\u00a0 The largest part of this rubbish ends up floating in the so-called \u201cGreat Pacific Garbage Patch\u201d, contaminating the marine life.\u00a0 Rapu Nui receives the rubbish from the South Pacific Gyre.<\/h2>\n


Last April, the crew of the \u201cSea Dragon\u201d, members of the Non-governmental Organization (NGO) \u201c5 Gyres\u201d<\/em>, under the leadership of Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins, visited Easter Island as part of their study on the global impact of marine contamination produced by plastic rubbish.\u00a0 To date they have covered more than 20,000 nautical miles exploring the five great sub-tropical oceanic gyres.
An oceanic gyre is a great pinwheel of water thousands of miles wide, circulating under the strong winds that push these currents on a clockwise path in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.\u00a0 In the center of these sub-tropical circuits are high-pressure areas, as a result of the west winds around the northern gyres and the easterly trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere.\u00a0 All the non-degradable rubbish, such as bottles, plastic bags and many other items that are loosed into the ocean, are caught in these swirls.\u00a0 One of the five great sub-tropical oceanic gyres is the North Pacific Gyre, also referred to as the \u201cPlastic Soup\u201d or the \u201cGreat Pacific Garbage Patch\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 It is an area that is covered with plastic and other types of waste that have been caught up by the currents of the gyre.\u00a0 It\u2019s estimated size is around 1,400,000 km2 (540.000 sq. mi.).\u00a0 <\/em>80% of the rubbish comes from the land and only 20% is dumped from ships.\u00a0 In spite of its size and density, this oceanic dump is barely visible in satellite photographs and is not able to be found by radar.\u00a0 Each year millions of tons of plastic end up in the oceans.\u00a0 At sea, the plastics absorb pollution in high concentrations, and then disintegrate in such a way that they can be ingested by surface marine organisms, thus entering into the food chain.
This group of scientists began their expeditions in 2008 with an exploration of the North Pacific Gyre and followed by the North Atlantic Gyre in 2009, the Indian Ocean Gyre and the South Atlantic Gyre in 2010, finalizing with the South Pacific Gyre, which is located not far from Easter Island, in 2011.\u00a0 Using special \u201cNASA\u201d <\/em>nets, they collect samples of the plastics found in each one of these circular currents to study the type of plastic that would be found in throughout the gyre.\u00a0 They also collect fish to understand how the consumption of micro-particles of plastic affect the marine ecosystems and follow that with studies of the impact of plastic contamination on our health.\u00a0 Anna Cummins, expedition scientist, notes that \u201cThe rubbish is slowly broken down into very tiny particles and these fragments of plastic remain for many years swirling around in the sea.\u00a0 The danger is in the fish which are eating them.\u00a0 It\u2019s damaging to the organisms of our marine life and, if we eat the fish, we end up in some way eating our own rubbish.\u201d <\/em>

Rapa Nui receives all the rubbish from the South Pacific currents.\u00a0 As a demonstration, the group made an expedition to Ahu Tongariki and Ovahe beach.\u00a0 They made a clean-up of the shore in which they collected large quantities of plastic residue and rubbish.\u00a0 Maeva Icka, of the Municipal Environmental Administration Office, the coordinator of the visit, told that \u201cI learned, with this excursion, that under each rock are micro-particles of plastic and that they are highly contaminating.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To share the message of the global impact that contamination has, the researchers have invited scientists and other professionals to join their expeditions.\u00a0 At each stop they offer educational programs in the schools and Rapa Nui was no exception.\u00a0 At the Colegio Lorenzo Baeza Vega, they explained to the students the poisonous effects of pollution in the sea and the importance of caring for our environment.<\/p>\n

Featured Reports:<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic contaminates the coast of Rapa Nui Every year millions of tons of plastic are dumped into the oceans.\u00a0 The largest part of this rubbish ends up floating in the so-called \u201cGreat Pacific Garbage Patch\u201d, contaminating the marine life.\u00a0 Rapu Nui receives the rubbish from the South Pacific Gyre. Last April, the crew of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":21,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living-nature","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPlastic contaminates the coast of Rapa Nui - moeVarua Rapa Nui<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Plastics Contaminate the coast of Rapa Nui, Every year millions of tons of plastics are thrown into the oceans. 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