Commentary: Plastic debris is devastating the Pacific Ocean

Re. “Bag Ban Is Just Another Intrusion,” (Feb. 11):

Letter writer John Jaeger stated, “In hundreds of days at sea, I have never seen — nor have I heard of — any marine animal being harmed by plastic bags.”

Apparently his time at sea was either spent in an area no bigger than a swimming pool, or he has never been in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between California and Japan, where the patches of plastic debris, including bags, have created dead zones hundreds of miles wide.

Or he just doesn’t know the documented facts.

The New York Times on Feb. 12 published a story topped by the following headline, “Study finds rising levels of plastics in oceans.”

The story was based on a study that appeared this month in the journal Science.

The Times story begins: “Some 8 million metric tons of plastic waste makes its way into the world’s oceans each year, and the amount of the debris is likely to increase greatly over the next decade unless nations take strong measures to dispose of their trash responsibly, new research suggests.”

It goes on to describe that research:

“The amount of plastic that entered the oceans in the year measured, 2010, might be as little as 4.8 million metric tons or as much as 12.7 million.” Eight million equals “five plastic grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world,” the lead author of the study is quoted as saying.

And it’s growing.

• We have seen plastics in the oceans since the 1970s, and now debris can be found in arctic sea ice.

• The saltwater and sun cause the debris to shred. Those pieces then become coated with toxic substances and are eaten by fish and eventually people.

So unless Jaegar would like to roll the dice and have a meal consisting of fish swimming in this toxic soup, he needs to rethink his stand that the plastic bag ban should be rescinded by the Huntington Beach City Council, or for that matter put on the ballot.

HOWARD GEORGE lives in Huntington Beach.