At the start of 2008 the Greenpeace vessel MV Esperanza
headed south into the Southern Ocean around East Antarctica to
highlight, and if possible, stop a Japanese scientific whaling fleet
from successful catches. A month later at 180 longitude the British
Antarctic Survey vessel RRS James Clark Ross steamed into the
Southern Ocean around West Antarctica to highlight, and if
possible, catch the first biological samples ever from the continental
shelf of the Amundsen Sea (see Kaiser et al., 2009; Ocean
Biogeographic Information System website for global samples and
SCARMarBIN website for detail of Southern Ocean records).
However, both vessels had a purpose in common, which was the
first co-ordinated ship-board survey of Southern Ocean marine
debris, specifically to quantify macroplastics in the planet’s most
remote seas. Furthermore a scientist on board the ice patrol vessel
HMS Endurance, which was supporting science projects along the
West Antarctic Peninsula also recorded observations of plastics at
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1223 221613.
E-mail address: dkab@bas.ac.uk (D.K.A. Barnes).
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Marine Environmental Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marenvrev
0141-1136/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2010.05.006
Marine Environmental Research 70 (2010) 250e252
ea. This survey was not only the first at the sea surface and seabed
in the Southern Ocean but also combined the most unusual team of
vessels belonging to research, pressure group and military organisations
to gain unprecedented spatial coverage