The teams searching for possible debris from the missing Flight MH370 are experiencing a growing frustration because most debris that they found turn out to be garbage floating randomly in the ocean.
Environmental advocate based in Los Angeles, Charles Moore, explained to the Associated Press that the ocean is like a soup filled with different kinds of garbage. Moore has brought attention to an ocean gyre located between California and Hawaii and he called this the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Garbage patches in the ocean consist of the same items found in city dumps. Most of the time, these garbage are plastics floating just below the surface while the larger items are often fishing-related.
According to Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, the ocean has become a dump site for debris that have accumulated for years. He also said that most trash come from the trash produced by cargo ships and at times, the container become ocean trash for many years until someone removes them from the water.
Researchers are concerned about the growing number of plastic garbage in the form of household items, water bottles and shopping bags.
Research scientist for CSIRO, an Australian science organization, Denise Hardesty told AP that there are at most 5000 to 7000 small pieces of plastic ever square kilometer of the ocean surrounding Australia. She further explained that two-thirds of the seabirds that she has examined showed that they have ingested some form of plastic while a particular bird was discovered to have eaten 175 small pieces of plastic.
Wing Commander of New Zealand's defense force, Andy Scott, who is a part of the P-3 Orion team searching for the missing Malaysian flight said that they have identified over 70 objects worth investigating so far. However, most of them turned out to be garbage and none is from the missing plane.
"A lot of the stuff we are seeing," he told Associated Press, "is basically rubbish."
