Into the ‘Plastisphere’: Scientists Comb Japan Waters to Study New Eco Threat

Into the ‘Plastisphere’: Scientists Comb Japan Waters to Study New Eco Threat

Tiny floating fragments from plastic packaging, synthetic clothing and fishing nets have proliferated over the past four decades, and are now found in every part of the world's oceans. Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

A boat's crew casts a net into the seemingly clean waters off Japan's Izu peninsula, but not to catch fish -- they are scooping up microplastics to learn more about the pollution's impact on marine life.

Tiny floating fragments from plastic packaging, synthetic clothing and fishing nets have proliferated over the past four decades, and are now found in every part of the world's oceans -- even the deepest trench.

The planet's seafloor is littered with an estimated 14 million tons of microplastics, according to a study released last year, and scientists say more research on them is urgently needed, including their effect on ecosystems, the food chain and human health.

So a team of French and Japanese researchers is analyzing samples from the archipelago's coastal waters to study how microplastics make their way into the sea, and how much seeps into the ocean floor.

They are also examining the so-called "plastisphere", where micro-organisms live among discarded plastic.

"It's a new ecosystem that didn't exist before the 1970s. So we don't really know which