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Science Technology

Tracking Ocean Trash by Satellite 22

Posted by timothy from the stupid-giant-trash-balls dept.
DoubleWhopper writes "From the "Intersting Use of Technology" file comes this article on NOAA's tracking of oceanic debris with satellites used for tracking fish. From the article, "...during three days of study, about 2,000 individual pieces of debris were seen", and, "A number were balls of net up to 30 feet across." The researchers verified the information with the aid of a NOAA aircraft and digital imaging."
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Tracking Ocean Trash by Satellite More

Tracking Ocean Trash by Satellite

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  • That is.... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by rekenner ( 849871 )
    Truly depressing.
    Yay to fucking up the planet!

  • Wilson? (Score:5, Funny)

    by toygeek ( 473120 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @06:15PM (#12413524) Journal
    I wonder if they spotted Wilson? Enquiring castaways want to know....

  • Ghost Fishing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TFGeditor ( 737839 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @06:19PM (#12413566) Homepage
    FTA: "'One piece of driftnet that was still stretched out, and presumably still fishing, was 200-300 meters (650-975 feet) long,' Churnside said."

    The article links to a NOAA article, "Ghost Fishing."

    This is similar to the "ghost traps" crab trapproblem. Crabs enter abandoned crab traps. The crabs die. More crabs enter the traps to feed on the dead ones, then they die. An endless cycle.

    The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has an annual Crab Trap Cleanup Day. Notices are sent out, and any crab traps still in the water during the cleanup day(s) are considered abandoned. Volunteers annually collect somewhere around 2000 traps from Texas coastal waters.

    • This is similar to the "ghost traps" crab trapproblem. Crabs enter abandoned crab traps. The crabs die. More crabs enter the traps to feed on the dead ones, then they die. An endless cycle.

      In the grand overall scheme of things how is this a problem? Eventually either the traps fill up or other animals start eating the crabs and getting out.

      Meanwhile videos have shown that crabs CAN get out of traps quite easilly they just don't because it is easy for them to find food there. (Wish I could find that o

      • "Eventually either the traps fill up or other animals start eating the crabs and getting out."

        It doesn't work that way. The only other "anaimals" that eat the crabs are other crabs and small fishes, because (a) only other ceabs can enter the small openings in the traps, and (b) othe crabs have the hardware for breaking into the trapped cran's shells. Small fishes can feed through natural orifices in the shells and are small enough to dwim through the mesh of the wire traps.

        The traps do not fill up because

        • Re:Ghost Fishing (Score:1, Flamebait)

          by ikkonoishi ( 674762 )
          I still don't see the problem.

          So crabs are dying, So what?
          Crabs die all the time.
          All animals do.
          They are then eaten by other animals.
          Circle of life, man.
          Frankly I think the traps deserve medals for providing food for the small toothy fish.

          Down with the Crustaceans!
          Up with the Actinopterygii!
        • "The only other "anaimals" that eat the crabs are other crabs and small fishes, because (a) only other ceabs can enter the small openings in the traps, and (b) othe crabs have the hardware for breaking into the trapped cran's shells."

          One of the crabs main predators is the highly intelligent octopus. Octopus are the bane of the cray/crab-pot fishermen because: (a) They have no bones and can chase a crab anywhere it goes. (b) With eight arms and a beak like a parrot they can literally rip a crab/crayfish to

          • Re:The Octopus. (Score:3, Insightful)

            by TFGeditor ( 737839 )
            There are not octopus in Texas coastal waters where crabbing is done. And the money for the cleanup is minimal, only what it costs to have game wardens et al oversee the activities. The actual cleaners are volunteers.
            • I am not saying the crab-pot clean-up is a waste of time, I think the abandoned pot rule is a great idea and more power to them. For practically nothing you get some rubbish out of the sea, some re-usable pots and may even give a little boost to the crabs population.

              In Australia we have a national clean-up day once a year. Thousands of people all over the country volunteer to spend a Sunday helping clean-up thier local area. Local bussinesses donate trucks, cranes, etc. The various govt's chip in with ad
              • Perhaps I am guilty of underexplaining. I wrote, " there are not octopus in Texas coastal waters." Perhaps I should have added there are octopus in the deeper waters *off* the Texas coast (continental shelf), but no one crabs at that depth. Crabbing done in in the near-shore bays and estuaries.

                And I did not intimate (at least not deliberately) that the other items you cite are not problems, just that the original article's reference to "ghost nets" was similar to the "ghost traps."

  • Tracking ocean garbage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Scott7477 ( 785439 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @06:51PM (#12413907) Homepage Journal
    With this tracking technology, now someone could go out and pick this stuff up. Greenpeace could use their Zodiacs for something besides chasing whalers. Seriously, this could lead to a potentially profitable salvage operation.
  • NORAD [norad.mil] tracks spacejunk [gma.org] that is in orbit around earth, simiarly to what NOAA is doing with ocean junk.
  • Why don't they send some crews to clean it up or notify the respective countries responsible for it to do that. I find it unnerving how much pollution there is in the form of litter, toxins in the air, land and sea and yet most of those responsible are completely apathetic because it is more monetarily efficient.
    • WHY? Because people are stupid. I see a "lovely" brown-orange smog on the way into the city everyday and wonder why anyone would want to breath that?! Then I notice the highway is populated with 4 ton SUVs and 80 ton semi tractors and it's no wonder; they're not looking at the sky but at the fuel gauge. Meaning, it's all about near term money not long term viability. And in Kansas City, you don't even have the option of mass transportation or biking. Neither are viable. One basically doesn't exist outside

    • Pretty easy to asnwer that one:

      It's hard enough persuading (insert government of your choice here) to fix a problem which is in their jurisdiction.

      Now try to persuade that same goverment to go clean up a floating pile of crap that can a) only be seen from space b) is currently bothering no-one and c) is probably in international waters.

      I'm with you, but you're unlikely to get govt support unless the crud drifts up on your nations beaches, catches fire and belches toxic black smoke over (insert favorit

    • I think this reflects a common misunderstanding of many real-world environmental issues. Finding/measuring where stuff is only a part of the problem. Finding out who "those responsible" are and reasonable cleanup/mitigation strategies is more often than not as big a problem. If an oil leak happened on my new property sometime in the last 100 years.. am I responsible for celaning it up? Even if I go bankrupt? Does the Ivory Coast have to clean up after US ships? Do the US taxpayers? Do the US fishing industr

  • grr (Score:2, Interesting)

    by bonezed ( 187343 )
    lets pressure the gov to clean it up

  • Cancer (Score:1)

    by Ydna ( 32354 ) *
    That's a nice, tasty crab Katamari. A most delicious Katamari. But can you make it bigger?

  • This is great! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by PenguinBoyDave ( 806137 )
    Having seen first-hand the crappy conditions out oceans are in after several years in the Navy I think this is a good thing. It is also a good thing because navigational hazards such as trash create all sorts of problems. Perhaps by tracking the trash they can eventually find who dumped it there.

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