Renowned long-distance swimmer Benoît Lecomte didn’t anticipate discovering a new ecology when he left Hawaii in the summer of 2019. All he was doing was taking a swim. He had freestyled his way from Japan to Hawaii the year before; now, he would do the same, but with a twist, from Hawaii to California. He desired to pass through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of the ocean that very few people ever go to, much less swim through, and is widely associated with environmental devastation.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which covers an area of around 600,000 square miles, was formed by networks of circular currents that resemble enormous whirlpools, drawing waste inside and holding it there. The patch is definitely filthy, despite the name being a bit misleading since it suggests floating islands of trash but, in reality, the majority of the trash consists of tiny pieces of plastic. Its discovery in 1997 has served as a catalyst for raising awareness of the issue of marine debris.