Marin Debris

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat in a lake, sea,ocean or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the centre of gyres and oncoastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack. Deliberate disposal of wastes at sea is calledocean dumping.

Some seeming forms of marine debris, such as driftwood, occur naturally, and human activities have been discharging similar material into the oceans for thousands of years. Recently however, with the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as many types of plastics do not biodegrade. Waterborne plastic poses a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine mammals, as well as to boats and coastal habitations.Ocean dumping, accidental container spillages, litter washed into storm drains, and wind-blown landfill waste are all contributing to this problem.

Researchers classify debris as either land or ocean-based; in 1991, the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution estimated that up to 80% of the pollution was land-based. 

The Indian Ocean Garbage Patch, discovered in 2010, is a gyre of marine litter suspended in the upper water column of the central Indian Ocean, specifically the Indian Ocean Gyre, one of the five major oceanic gyres.The patch does not appear as a continuous debris field. As with other patches in each of the five oceanic gyres, the plastics in it break down to ever smaller particles, and to constituent polymers.