More of Our Junk Found in the Oceans

The ocean might look clean to you, except for all that stuff you see floating on top from plastic ducks and nuclear disasters, etc., but what you probably don't know is that the surface is covered with tiny fragments of paint and fiberglass as well. That's the finding from a study that looked for plastic pollution in the uppermost millimeter of ocean done by a laboratory in Korea, and their ocean is connected to ours. The microscopic fragments come from the decks and hulls of boats, and they could pose a threat to zooplankton, an important part of the marine food web.

No, we're not all going to die from this. Well, not yet, anyway. The discovery is “continuing to open our eyes to how many small synthetic particles are in the environment,” says Kara Law, an oceanographer who studies plastic pollution at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and wasn't involved in the study.

The researchers focused on the ocean's microlayer and collected water samples along the southern coast of Korea, up to 16 kilometers offshore. Examining the samples in the lab, the researchers found well-known kinds of plastics: polyethylene, polypropylene, and expanded polystyrene. But, to their surprise, these made up just 4% of the particles.

Eighty-one percent of the synthetic particles in the microlayer consisted of alkyds, a binder in paints. Another 11% were polyester resins used in paint and fiberglass. On average, a liter of water from the microlayer contained 195 particles—this concentration is 10 to 100 times higher than microplastic particles in water collected by other methods.

The paint and fiberglass particles are coming from the more than 17,000 small fishing boats that ply these waters, the researchers determined. Under the microscope, the fragments were dark green and dark blue, typical colors for the boats. In addition, a laboratory test using infrared spectroscopy matched the particles with paint chips that the researchers collected from local shipyards. Alkyd paints are used above water, so these coatings (and the fiberglass) end up in the water after being abraded by nets, ropes, or anchors, or when the boats are scraped and repainted.

The researchers now plan to study the metals and organic chemicals on the paint particles and determine whether they can harm marine life.