An American explorer said he found plastic during a submarine dive on April 28th in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, the Mariana Trench. The site is close to 11,034 metres deep – more than the height of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, when inverted – and is one of the least explored areas of the world.

Victor Vescovo reported he found a plastic bag and candy wrapping on his expedition. Now, his team will conduct tests to check and see if what they saw was really plastic. According to the United Nations (UN), it is estimated that eight million tonnes of plastic flow out to the seas every year – which is equivalent to a trash truck dumping plastic into the ocean every eight minutes.

Experts say that inappropriate disposal leads to environmental consequences, especially for animals that can get trapped in the plastic or may ingest it. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it is believed that every year, more than a million birds and 100 thousand marine mammals die because of this type of trash.

The expedition

On his dive in the Mariana Trench, Vescovo got as far as 10,928 metres, becoming the person that has reached the deepest part of the ocean up to now. Three days after, he went back to the bottom, but only got to 10,927 metres.

The expeditions are part of the project The Five Deeps Expedition, which has the goal of exploring the deepest part of each of the oceans in the world. In the Mariana Trench alone, three species of animals unknown to science were discovered.

Sources: BBC, CNN, Mariana Trench, National Geographic, Live Science, ONU,The Five Deeps Expedition, and UNESCO.

Questions

1) What can be said based on the text?

a) So much plastic is thrown out in the seas that it can be even found in the depths of the oceans.

b) The last person to go to the Mariana Trench left a plastic bag there

c) Plastic is only harmful when it is on the surface of the oceans.

d) Dives to the Mariana Trench harm the site.

2) Would you be daring enough to go to the Mariana Trench? Why?

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