Are Ocean Plastics Creating an Ecosystem That Should Be Preserved?Are Ocean Plastics Creating an Ecosystem That Should Be Preserved?
One researcher opposes ocean cleanup efforts because they have the potential to destroy an “entire ecosystem that we do not understand and that we may never be able to restore.”
January 19, 2025

There’s always some controversy over ocean plastic — such as who is responsible for it and what to do about it — but everyone agrees that plastic doesn’t belong in the ocean.
Or do they?
I was floored deeper than the Mariana Trench last month to find that at least one scientist is saying that we should be slowing down our efforts at cleaning up ocean plastic. That researcher is Rebecca Helm, an ocean biologist at Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina – Asheville. Helm has commented in national and international forums in the past on ocean plastic cleanup efforts. She has been a vocal critic of the efforts of the Ocean Cleanup project run by Boyan Slat. Slat’s efforts have been covered here at PlasticsToday, and involve running giant skimmers along the ocean surface to remove the plastic.
Ocean skimmers capture sea creatures along with plastic waste
Such a skimmer cannot be designed to avoid removing a range of ocean critters both large and small at the same time that it’s removing plastic. Helm’s not been a fan of that approach, arguing that the removal of the sea critters causes more harm than what’s gained by removing the plastic.
She has recently gone beyond that point, however, and is starting to argue that ocean plastic has now created a unique ecosystem that should be preserved and studied. She has been quoted as saying: “Some of these cleanup projects have the potential to get rid of an entire ecosystem that we do not understand and that we may never be able to restore.”
So, maybe the next time I have a sinus infection, I should tell the doc that I’ll take the antibiotics they are prescribing, but only after they obtain a sample of the bacteria in my sinus, so that we don’t “get rid of an entire ecosystem that we do not understand and that we may never be able to restore?”
Novel ecosystems are in constant formation
Due to the ubiquity and robustness of life, novel ecosystems are constantly being created, and it seems that adding something — pretty much anything — to the ocean will modify the local environment. Helm notes that the tuna fishing industry will place large floating objects in the ocean (called “fish aggregating devices,” if you’re curious enough to Google them), and these attract large fish including tuna. This makes the fishing more effective in this new ecosystem.
So, if we’re after new ocean ecosystems, let’s start adding all kinds of items to the oceans. We can take all our PET and glass bottles, put messages in them, and let the tides have their way with them. Or we could take our garbage, foam it with supercritical carbon dioxide so it floats, and then dump it offshore.
Dr. Helm is holding ecosystems as a sacred cow, something that once identified needs to be studied and preserved without question. I can’t agree with her.
Two final thoughts
The first is that all of this is something of a tempest in a teacup. The Ocean Cleanup project still has a lot of hurdles to overcome before it removes a significant amount of ocean plastic, meaning the ocean-plastic ecosystem will be safe for a while.
Second, with Exxon, Coca-Cola, and other large corporations being sued for contributing to ocean plastics, couldn’t their attorneys argue that they should not be sued but rather rewarded for their contributions to ecosystem creation in the oceans? We’ve all seen lawyers argue crazier stuff, now haven’t we?
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