For Every Person on Earth, There Are 21,000 Pieces of Plastic in the Ocean

Surveying Oceans

A researcher throws a trawl into the Atlantic Ocean during a 2014 expedition. Photo: 5 Gyres

Still, there are a number of datasets available and techniques for surveying plastic in what’s known as the ocean surface layer going back decades. The data were collected using different trawling mechanisms and nets dragged behind boats through the ocean’s top layer.

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